{"product_id":"callista","title":"Callista","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy Saint John Henry Newman\u003cimg\u003e\u003cimg\u003e\u003cimg\u003e\u003cimg\u003e\u003cimg\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eCallista\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e:\u003c\/strong\u003e The Emperor Decius is brutally persecuting the Christians of Sicca Veneria. Callista, a beautiful Greek sculptress, is not herself a follower of the Christ—yet she is drawn into their world when Agellius, a Christian, seeks her hand in marriage. After a plague incites further persecution, Callista is mistakenly arrested and imprisoned. The sudden intervention of the mysterious Caecilius offers relief for Callista from the Emperor’s immolating demands—albeit in the form of a sacrifice of her own self, unto eternal life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eMost famous for his cogent scholarship, persuasive apologetics, and profound sermons, St. John Henry Newman was also a gifted novelist. Writing in 1852, at the heights of the rise of the novel as a literary form, Newman offered this assessment of literature’s purpose:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e“\u003cem\u003eMan is a being of genius, passion, intellect, conscience, power. He exercises these various gifts in various ways, in great deeds, in great thoughts, in heroic acts, in hateful crimes. He founds states, he fights battles, he builds cities, he ploughs the forest, he subdues the elements, he rules his kind. He creates vast ideas, and influences many generations. He takes a thousand shapes, and undergoes a thousand fortunes. Literature records them all to the life…\u003c\/em\u003e”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Henry Newman \u003c\/b\u003e(1801–1890) had a notable career at Oxford University and was an Anglican priest before converting to Roman Catholicism in 1845 and becoming a Catholic priest in 1847. A prolific author and preacher, his written works include \u003ci\u003eApologia pro Vita Sua\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eA Grammar of Assent\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Idea of a University\u003c\/i\u003e; he also founded Oratory houses and served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. In 2019, he was canonized a saint of the Catholic Church.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\" class=\"p1\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback:\u003c\/strong\u003e 284pp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN: \u003c\/strong\u003e978-1685953560\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cluny Media","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53100040618351,"sku":"978-1685953560","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0970\/5337\/6879\/files\/ProductImages_5.5x8.5--1120.jpg?v=1781124934","url":"https:\/\/www.heavenlychristiangifts.com\/products\/callista","provider":"Heavenly Christian Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}