Occasional Sermons
By Ronald Knox The sermons of Ronald Knox, in Evelyn Waugh’s estimation, contain the very best of his literary talent and pastoral sensibility. “Prepared, revised and rehearsed with every refinement of taste and skill,” the sermons convey their instruction simply and directly: refreshingly conversational in tone, faithfully and knowledgeably reliant on Sacred Scripture, and profoundly powerful in content, allusion, and spiritual consolation. Occasional Sermons presents ninety-one examples of this excellent preaching with all the sermons from Knox’s records given for notable events. Falling under the three headings of saints, occasions, and panegyrics, the sermons take as their subjects—to name but a few—Thérèse of Lisieux and Charles Borromeo, Gregory the Great and Thomas Aquinas, Philip Neri and the English Martyrs; coronations, ordinations, and centenaries, jubilees, anniversaries of parishes, cathedrals, and conversions; and, in poignant tribute, G. K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, a