Catholic National Library (formerly Catholic Central Library)

LENDING
AND
REFERENCE
LIBRARY

Over 70,000 books, pamphlets, and 150 periodicals.

Too far to come? Then take advantage of our Postal Service.

Need B&B accommodation while you research - see B&B List

Membership

Ordinary annual membership is £30. For information about Postal, Corporate, Reading Room and Life Membership click on Membership.

Services

The Library offers Members a range of services including:

*A fee may apply.

History

The Library was started by William Reed-Lewis in 1912. It has had an interesting and varied history.

Collections

The Library houses an extensive collection of books, pamphlets and periodicals in theology, spirituality and related subjects, biography, history, Catholic fiction, many rare works.

Special Collections

The Library houses some special collections:

Location

The Abbot and Community of St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough very generously provide accommodation for the Library.

Volunteers and Donations

The work of the Library would be impossible without the support of our many volunteers and benefactors. The Foundation Appeal was launched November 2007. If you would like to help, please click on Appeal.

Quotes of Note

The following quotations were found in books from our shelves and thought memorable, useful or filled with wisdom by readers who wanted to share them with you. We hope you enjoy them and, perhaps, will contribute one yourself.

Thanks to the multitude of individuals and vocations, the Spirit of God insinuates itself everywhere and is everywhere at work.

THE DIVINE MILIEU, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, page 93

A Church that is firmly integrated in history is better able to awaken its people, make them aware of the need to be more open and more flexible, and teach them the obligation to be faithful at once to the past, to the present and to the future.

MEMORIES AND HOPES, Leon-Joseph Cardinal Suenens, page 156

Our mentioning of the weather - our perfunctory observations on what kind of day it is, are perhaps not idle. Perhaps we have a deep and legitimate need to know in our entire being what the day is like, to see it and feel it, to know how the sky is grey, paler in the south, with patches of blue in the southwest, with snow on the ground, the thermometer at 18, and cold wind making your ears ache. I have a real need to know these things because I myself am part of the weather and part of the climate and part of the place, and a day in which I have not shared truly in all this is no day at all. It is certainly part of my life of prayer.

WHEN THE TREES SAY NOTHING, Thomas Merton, page 46

Catholic National Library, St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough Road, Farnborough, Hants GU14 7NQ, United Kingdom Directions and Map

Telephone: 01252 543818 Email: library at catholic dash library dot org dot uk. Site Map