1878: Pope Pius IX dies, after a misguided papacy that has stamped out liberalism, centralized papal power and witnessed the Pope's declaration of Infallibility. The Judas Cloth is told from the standpoint of Pius's son Nicola Santi, an orphan unaware of his scandalous paternity, who becomes a priest intent on honest and compassionate service, only to suffer disillusion. 'A wonderful basilica of a novel.' Independent 'An astonishing achievement.' Irish Times 'Rich in bizarre theatre... unabashed period drama, gorgeous and sinister grand guignol.' Sunday Times 'O'Faolain gently but unmistakably draws parallels with today's church... I hope his holiness reads it.' Telegraph

For 1,600 years its message lay hidden. When the bound papyrus pages of this lost gospel finally reached scholars who could unlock its meaning, they were astounded. Here was a gospel that had not been seen since the early days of Christianity, and which few experts had even thought existed–a gospel told from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, history’s ultimate traitor. And far from being a villain, the Judas that emerges in its pages is a hero. In this radical reinterpretation, Jesus asks Judas to betray him. In contrast to the New Testament Gospels, Judas Iscariot is presented as a role model for all those who wish to be disciples of Jesus and is the one apostle who truly understands Jesus. Discovered by farmers in the 1970s in Middle Egypt, the codex containing the gospel was bought and sold by antiquities traders, secreted away, and carried across three continents, all the while suffering damage that reduced much of it to fragments. In 2001, it finally found its way into the hands of a team of experts who would painstakingly reassemble and restore it. The Gospel of Judas has been translated from its original Coptic to clear prose, and is accompanied by commentary that explains its fascinating history in the context of the early Church, offering a whole new way of understanding the message of Jesus Christ.

The biblical scholar recounts the events surrounding the discovery and handling of the Gospel of Judas, and provides an overview of its content, in which Judas is portrayed as a faithful disciple.

What isThe Judas Gospel? Does it tell us anything true about Jesus or Judas?Nicholas Perrin offers a helpful assessment ofThe Gospel of Judas, released by the National Geographic Society in the spring of 2006. Not a gospel at all, he gives a brief history of its origin and discovery, an overview of its contents, and an appraisal of its historical value for first-century conclusions about Jesus and Judas and for second-century Gnosticism.A great aid to witnessing about the truth of Scripture and the heresies that would try to overcome it.

"The Legend of St Brendan" is a study of two accounts of a voyage undertaken by Brendan, a sixth-century Irish saint. The immense popularity of the Latin version encouraged many vernacular translations, including a twelfth-century Anglo-Norman reworking of the narrative which excises much of the devotional material seen in the ninth-century "Navigatio Sancti Brendani abbatis" and changes the emphasis, leaving a recognisably secular narrative. The vernacular version focuses on marvellous imagery and the trials and tribulations of a long sea-voyage. Together the two versions demonstrate a movement away from hagiography towards adventure. Studies of the two versions rarely discuss the elements of the fantastic. Following a summary of authorship, audiences and sources, this comparative study adopts a structural approach to the two versions of the Brendan narrative. It considers what the fantastic imagery achieves and addresses issues raised with respect to theological parallels.