Happy Birthday, Treasure and Tradition!

Today is the 10th birthday of our book Treasure and Tradition...and what better time to kick off our celebration of the 15th anniversary of St. Augustine Academy Press, than with a little story about a little mother who did a very big thing...

Once upon a time, there was a little family. When they would go to Mass on Sunday, there was a spacious room at the back of the church, where the little children had freedom to run and play and color without disturbing the rest of the congregation. The church even offered a little class for the children to attend during Mass. These things were a great comfort to the parents, because with three young children and another on the way, it was very hard sometimes to coax them to sit still and be quiet during all that time.

And all seemed well.

But doubt and worry began to grow in the heart of the little mother. These helpful distractions were not helping the little children to learn how to be reverent at Mass; indeed, the opposite was true. Mass was not worship but playtime, and attempts to help them grow into some degree of participation brought only frustration and despair. Worse, the children were getting older, and wondering why they needed to dress nicely, when so many of the people they saw were wearing things like ripped jeans and death metal t-shirts, daisy dukes and even swimwear.

Perhaps if we attended Mass at another parish, that might improve things? the little mother wondered. And so they became pilgrims, going from one church to another, trying to find a place that would foster the sort of reverence at Mass that the parents recalled from their childhood. But at each parish they attended, they found different versions of the same problem. This little mother bird flew far and wide, but found no suitable place to nest with her young.

It was only then that she remembered a conversation she had overheard many, many years ago…acquaintances who had told her of something unusual: a Mass they had attended according to the ancient Rite, in Latin. At the time, she hadn’t been curious enough to join them, but now she decided to give it a try.

In the frigid darkness of one January morning, shortly after a new little boy had been born to them, the little mother made her way to a small chapel to experience this Mass of Ages. And here she experienced something far beyond anything she had dreamed of. This was not merely a place where her children could grow in virtue; here even her own hunger for closeness to God was fed for the first time, in ways she had never known before. It was love at first sight.

But bringing the whole family to this little chapel proved very difficult. These little children had not yet known what it was to be still and quiet during Mass, and the older ones were curious about every little thing. The peacefulness of the little chapel was disrupted by their chatter. And though some tried to help the little family, others struggled to find patience for these neophytes.

Desperate to help her children, the little mother went through stacks of books intended for children attending the Traditional Latin Mass. But all of them came from an era when this Mass was normal; they did not explain what was unfamiliar to the little family. After all, to their authors, these things were not unfamiliar. And though the little chapel had made little binders for the children with pictures and prayers, they were only in English. How could the little children match up these prayers with the Latin being spoken by the priest? How could they hope to follow along?

So the little mother began putting together her own little binder for the children, using the same images, but finding a text of the Mass in Latin that had English subtitles. Using her own father's old hand Missal, she added as many helpful notes as possible, explaining what the priest was doing at each stage. It was hard to find time; her children needed much attention, and in the meantime, another little girl was born. During the summers, while her older children took swimming lessons, and the littlest ones played on the playground, she sat at a picnic table nearby and slowly and painstakingly created one page at a time to add to the little binder.

Other families saw what she had made and asked for copies. So she decided to upload those pages to Lulu.com. From there, her friends could choose to either download the pages and print them themselves, or they could pay to have a copy printed and nicely bound as a book. And so the book Learning to Follow the Mass was born.

The idea of being able to create her own books opened new doors, and the little mother now began reprinting all sorts of wonderful out-of-print books she had found online. With the help of a friend, she even made her own fun little book on how NOT to behave at Mass.

Before she knew it, this little endeavor, which had come from simply trying to help her children learn to be reverent at Mass, had become a little publishing company, and she found herself proudly displaying her wares at the local homeschool conference in May of 2010.

She trembled a little when a priest came and picked up her book about the Mass and began paging through it. His face looked very serious. “Did you make this book?” he finally asked. The little mother nodded hesitantly. “This is good,” he said. She smiled. “But it needs to be better!” he continued…and her face fell.

This priest happened to be the head of a prominent Catholic publishing company. She sat amazed as he excitedly told her he would set up a meeting for her with his editor-in-chief, who would help her make this little book what it really deserved to be.

Now, the little mother was immensely grateful for this offer of help, but she was also…well…a little overwhelmed! She was expecting her 6th child any day, and it had been a very difficult pregnancy. With five little ones already, all under the age of 10, both time and energy were increasingly hard to find.

But she faithfully met with the editor-in-chief. He showed her books like Fulton Sheen's This is The Mass and encouraged her to make this a beautiful book anyone could proudly display on their coffee table. She would need better software to create the book. And most importantly, he urged her to arrange her own photo shoot, so that with beautiful modern photos, this book would show the world that this Mass isn't just an antique from the past to be admired, it's something dynamic that is relevant today and always.

This was a bridge too far; the little mother began to feel dizzy. How could she, just a little mother, make such an important book? Learn to use expensive, complicated publishing software? Arrange a photo shoot? Couldn't they just take the book and do it themselves? Somehow the little mother hid her fear until the meeting ended, but she sat a long time in her car afterward, shedding tears. Surely this was beyond her power to achieve…

Just a few days later, a sweet little boy was born, and so for a time, she had other cares. But those images and those words never left her mind. Again and again they echoed:

“This is good… But it needs to be better!”

“It must be beautiful so that people will be proud to display it on their coffee table.”

“It should have new photographs to show that this Mass is not just something from the past, it is happening now.”

Meanwhile, her children were getting older, and continued to ask many good questions about what they were seeing at Mass. Each time a question arose, she made a little note of it….

In fact, merely to satisfy her own curiosity, she had collected a number of very good books about the Mass. She began keeping a notebook: on the right hand page, she put the text for each prayer of the Mass. Then on the left hand page, she would write any notes she found in those books on the Mass that applied to that prayer, or group of prayers. And for each page, she strove to find a quote from scripture that was relevant to that part of the Mass.

Inspired by her children's books by Dorling Kindersley, and by the helpful way that MTV's Pop-Up Videos could share interesting trivia without interrupting the flow of a song (yes, it's true, she came from a generation that was raised on MTV), she began organizing her notes into succinct phrases, attached to visual cues, which could make the information memorable and easy to read.

At every turn, God provided. Her sister, who had worked several years for a textbook publisher, gave her very helpful advice, including the idea of organizing all those "pop up" notes in a neat little column that would appear on each page (as you can see in the photo of an early draft at the left, they were originally all over the page...). A good friend with graphic design experience generously taught her how to use all that complicated software. This same friend also helped develop little sketches showing the position of the priest and the servers at the altar to match with every page. (These also served as the illustrations for the unique chart of placefinders the little mother called “bookmarks,” because they were little cues that helped you find your place when you inevitably got lost during all those silent prayers.)  She met a good and kind priest who offered to help vet her little book, to ensure that there were no errors...

Slowly, slowly, little by little, the book grew and developed. Sometimes she would rush home from Mass to jot down yet another idea or insight. Other times, the book would wait for months while life intervened. But finally, after 4 years, she had completed enough to submit it to the diocesan censor, hoping for an imprimatur for this little book. Some dear friends even helped her get advance copies into the hands of influential people who could recommend the book to the public once it was finished.

However, one thing had continued to elude her. She had found a friend, a talented photographer, who was willing to take those beautiful photos of the Mass, but she could find no priest who celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass, who had the hours of time needed for a good photo shoot. They were simply too busy! She had no choice but to insert some sample photos into the book she had submitted to the diocese.

So when the diocesan censor called with a few questions, and asked what her plan was for the final photos, she expressed her sad frustration.

“You can take the photos at my church!” he offered. “My parochial vicar celebrates the Latin Mass, and I'm sure he'd be happy to pose for the photos.” The little mother could hardly believe her ears. God had finally provided this last piece, at the last minute, in the most unexpected way!

And so just a few weeks later, the diocesan censor himself graciously posed for those photos, since the parochial vicar was not available that day. Two friends offered their sons, who had served the Latin Mass many times, to pose alongside him. Alas, since the original altar in this lovely little church had been cut down to a smaller size in order to accommodate a freestanding altar, it was too small to be used as it once was. No problem; with some creativity, the freestanding altar was adorned appropriately for an ad orientem Mass…and this hiccup only added to the helpfulness of the book, because it showed that this Mass can be celebrated in any church with a consecrated altar. (Well...the Mass can even be celebrated on the hood of a Jeep if necessary...)

The friends she had made at the Catholic publishing company helped the little mother find a good local printer who could help make the beautiful coffee table book a reality. It was a huge investment, because unlike the other books she had printed online, this sort of book could only be printed by the thousands. But money wasn't the only problem…

“Where do you plan to store all of these books once they are printed?” the printer asked.

The little mother hadn't thought of that…

“Well…I guess…in our garage?” she answered.

He shook his head. “Tell you what, we have a little bit of warehouse space in the back. We will store them for you, and you can come get as many boxes as you want anytime you need.”

Yes, truly God provided everything necessary.

And so, on Thursday, November 20th, 2014, an article appeared on the website New Liturgical Movement, written by Peter Kwasniewski, introducing the book Treasure and Tradition for the first time. Within minutes, orders started pouring in, as well as emails from people overseas who were having trouble placing their orders…a problem the little mother had never expected...

Those little children, who had long since become accustomed to attending the Latin Mass, and who by now were old enough to help out, set up a little assembly line, and for several days they packed hundreds of orders, while their little mother began searching for distributors in the UK and Australia who could help make this book accessible in those countries.

Then just a few months later, she got another big surprise, when a gentleman from Brazil asked for permission to translate her book into Portuguese!

This little mother thought her little book might help other little families like hers to attend the Latin Mass without all the struggles they had had to undergo. But she was so little. She expected it would take years and years to sell all those 3,000 copies that had taken quite a sacrifice to print.

Instead they were gone in a matter of 3 months! 

So that kind and generous printer helped her to print (and store) more books, and many, many others, before his unexpected passing in 2020 (in your charity, please pray for the repose of his soul). The success of Treasure and Tradition allowed the little mother to invest in creating beautiful replicas of books that she loved, which had been beyond her reach before. And now, 10 years later, Treasure and Tradition has been translated into six languages (with three more on the way), has sold (or given away) more than 80,000 copies, and St. Augustine Academy Press has been able to bring back nearly 200 out-of-print classics for Catholic families like hers.

And the little mother never failed to be grateful to God, and to all her dear friends who had made it all possible.  May God bless them all, every one...

Cast of Characters:

The Publisher Priest: Father James Socias

The Prominent Catholic Publishing Company: Midwest Theological Forum

The Editor-in-Chief: Jeff Cole

Her Sister: Lara Davenport

The Good Friend and Graphic Designer: Julie Streeter

The Good and Kind Priest: Father Sean Kopcynski

The Friend who gave a copy to Cardinal Burke: Mary Popp of SPORCH

The Friend who helped put a copy in the hands of Father Z: Father Joshua Caswell

The Photographer: Laura Dominick

The Diocesan Censor: Father John Balluff

The Servers: Tommy Higgins and Brandon Santiago

The Friend working for the publishing company: Laura Ehrhardt

The Kind and Generous Printer: Mike Gardner

The Foreign Distributors: Cenacle UK, Freedom Publishing Australia

The Brazilian Gentleman: Nestor Forster, Jr.