Tradition and the Church: The Story of Sacred Tradition Unfolding through the Ages

Tradition and the Church by Msgr. George Agius (1873–1962) is one of the finest books ever written on the subject of Tradition and its role in the Deposit of Faith—the body of revealed truth found in both Tradition and Scripture. First published in 1928, it provides solid doctrinal coverage concerning the most important aspects of Tradition. Msgr Agius reaffirms the Church’s teaching that Tradition precedes Scripture and that the early Church was inexorably in favour of preserving and fostering both. Masterfully written and easily readable, countless readers will grow deeper in their appreciation of the Tradition that was handed down by Christ through the apostles and entrusted exclusively to the teaching office of the Church. The author was a Maltese priest who, in 1897, enrolled at the Gregorian University in Rome, where he became lifelong friends with his classmate Fr. Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pius XII. He was later invited to the newly created Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, where in 1902, he assumed duties as secretary and chancellor of the first bishop. Tradition and the Church is a book every Catholic should read in order to understand and appreciate how the Church has transmitted the Faith since apostolic times. MONSIGNOR GEORGE AGIUS (1873-1962) was a theologian, canon lawyer, and lifelong friend of Fr. Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII. Ordained in Malta at the age of 22, Fr. Agius went to Rome for doctoratal studies in Theology and Canon Law, through which he befriended the future Sovereign Pontiff. Once his doctorates were completed in 1902, Fr. Agius was asked to serve in the United States as the secretary and chancellor for the newly created Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. During the 1920s, Agius was asked to define and then help meet some of the challenges that confronted the Church in that decade, specifically the widespread rejection of authority, the challenging of doctrines, and the denial of Christ’s divinity. For his services to the Church, Fr. Agius was elevated to the title of monsignor in 1937 and was given a privileged place alongside the throne of Pope Pius XII as an official representative for the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on November 1st, 1950. After serving as a priest for sixty-seven years, Monsignor Agius died on March 6, 1962 and is buried in the land of his birth on the island of Malta.

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