Liguori Publications Celebrates Our 70th Anniversary
In 1947, Fr. Donald Miller and a group of Redemptorist priests acquired a 135-acre pastoral campus just south of St. Louis on which they founded a Redemptorist publishing house. On October 23, Liguori Publications celebrates its 70th anniversary of this event.
This group of Redemptorists began publishing a magazine in 1913 for Redemptorists and their families in Wisconsin. This magazine was named Liguorian.
Upon moving to Missouri, they founded the Liguori Mission House and Liguori Publications, the new publisher of Liguorian. It is from this location that Liguori has operated for seventy years.
“For the past seventy years, Liguori has worked to further the Redemptorist mission to‘preach’ the Good News of plentiful redemption in whatever form that ‘preaching' takes!” said Fr. Byron Miller, President and Publisher of Liguori Publications.
Liguori Publications received its name from St. Alphonsus Liguori, a prolific writer from eighteenth century Naples. He was an advocate of preaching to people where they are, a philosophy that Redemptorists and Liguori Publications hold in high esteem today.
In his lifetime, St. Alphonsus Liguori is credited with authoring 111 works, a legacy that Liguori Publications honors with their work today.
“The founder of the Redemptorist Congregation, Saint Alphonsus Liguori—and our patron at Liguori Publications—had an uncanny, remarkable ability to offer practical and pastoral advice to people in their formation of faith and conscience. I believe a primary reason that Liguori Publications has endured for so long is due to its unmatched reputation for offering quality products in a down-to-earth pastoral style,” said Fr. Byron.
Today Liguori Publications is a non-profit company owned by the Redemptorists of the Denver Province, employing laypeople and Redemptorist priests and brothers.
Besides Liguorian, which celebrated its centennial in 2013, they have expanded their variety of products, and publish some of the most widely used parish materials in the country, books aimed at people exploring faith, pamphlets, and more. They have thousands of titles, many of which are award winners.
“My hope for Liguori Publications is that it will continue to evolve with today's Catholics and their desire to make faith and Church integral to everyday life. Liguori products for individuals, families, and faith communities are a means to an end, and that relevant end is our universal call to holiness,"" said Fr. Byron.
