Since the introduction of Christian missionaries in Roman Britain in the first century AD, the Catholic Church has been a part of English history. England was evangelized to such an extent in the early decades that the Celtic people was mainly Catholic by the time the Romans retreated in the fifth century.
Anglo-Saxon England has a well-deserved reputation as a land of saints. Saxon England was ablaze with the light of Christ from St. Bede's account of the early Church to the reign of the holy king, St. Edward the Confessor.
The oppressive Tudors stole this Catholic heart from the people of England, against their will and in spite of their valiant fight. This restored England's reputation as a land of saints, yet it also became a land of martyrs, with Catholic priests and laypeople being executed for practicing their faith. For 150 years, martyrdoms were carried out, followed by another 150 years of legal and political persecution.
Against all odds, a major Catholic revival began in the nineteenth century, led by St. John Henry Newman's conversion, and continued into the twentieth century. Much of the greatest literature of the past century has been written by literary converts, such as G.K. Chesterton, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene and J. R. R. Tolkien.
This single-volume history of "real England," the England that remained true to the Faith through thick and thin, in both happy and dangerous times, tells the entire fascinating, faith-filled story. It's a narrative that's worth not only recounting, but also celebrating.