Liguori Publications Celebrates 75: The Boom Years of the 1950s

1950s: The Boom Years

By Fr. Byron Miller, CSsR, President and Publisher of Liguori Publications

Photos courtesy of Br. Robert Ruffing, CSsR

Boom—synonymous with the 1950s—is part of an apt name for the four million US Baby Boomers born annually in that decade. They filled booming suburbs in optimistic families and a booming economy.

“Boom” also fits Liguori Publications in the mid-twentieth century. In 1953, a spacious modern office building was erected to handle the editing, addressing, and mailing of millions of pieces of literature sent out every year. Vendors in St. Louis did the printing.

In 1958, a brick monastery with thirty bedrooms was added to the campus to house the growing community of Redemptorists who worked with an ever-increasing number of employees in the publishing building.

Fr. Donald Miller, CSsR, the founder of Liguori Publications, dreamed of including a radio station and an edifice for regular retreat ministry on the property. While these ideas never fully materialized, two weekly radio programs were produced and broadcast from Liguori, Missouri, for Perpetual Help devotions.

Another dream of Fr. Don’s was realized: From the beginning, he had envisioned a community of contemplative Redemptoristine nuns on the Liguori grounds to pray for the Apostolate of the Pen. Discussions for establishing the foundation began in the late 1950s, culminating in the arrival of eight nuns from their cloister in Ontario, Canada, in April 1960.

Ultimately, the booming prosperity of the 1950s—along with a lot of fervent prayers and hard work—helped establish Liguori Publications as one of the leading Catholic publishing houses in the United States. Our comprehensive line of products was meeting the growing demands of the faithful.

1950s

1950: The Korean War begins.

1951: I Love Lucy debuts, sparking TV’s Golden Age. 

1955: Rosa Parks refuses
to give her bus seat to a
white man, triggering the
Montgomery bus boycott.

1956: “In God We Trust” becomes the national motto.

1957: The Space race dawns as the Soviets launch Sputnik.

1959: Alaska and Hawaii
become the forty-ninth
and fiftieth US states.

The Church in the 1950s

1950: Pope Pius XII announced dogma that Mary’s body was assumed into heaven. His was the sole infallible declaration made by a pope after the
formal proclamation at the
First Vatican Council (1869–70).

1958: Pius XII dies October 9.

1959: Pope John XXIII announced Vatican II, the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church as a means of spiritual renewal for the church and as an occasion for Christians separated from Rome to work towards Christian unity. The pontiff was quoted as saying it was time to “open the windows and let in the fresh air.”

Next: Liguori Publications helps answer anxious questions in the tumultuous 1960s