Written originally to be read aloud to the boys in his charge who were preparing for Benedictine life, Dom Bede Camm's The Voyage of the PAX transforms the spiritual life into a rollicking adventure upon the high seas.
Camm knew something about peril at sea himself. During his Oxford years he survived a shipwreck off the coast of Spain, clinging to the wreckage with his fellow passengers for seventeen hours before rescue. In thanksgiving for his deliverance, he resolved to consecrate his life to the service of God. Years later, after his conversion to Catholicism and entrance into the Benedictine Order, the sea became the setting for this remarkable allegory of vocation and the journey toward eternity.
A band of boys sets sail for their true home in the Golden City aboard the Pax, one of the Prince's pilot ships. But this is no pleasure cruise. Those who embark must leave unnecessary baggage behind, work hard at the oars, obey their captain, resist the allurements of easier and more entertaining vessels, and hold their course through storms and temptations. Some will persevere. Some will fall and rise again. Others will abandon ship altogether. And before the voyage is over, every sailor must pass the straits of Mors before entering the haven of Æternitas.
Readers who love Mother Mary Loyola's The King of the Golden City will find much that feels familiar here: another Golden City, another journey through a world filled with dangers to the soul, and another story in which the truths of the Catholic Faith become vividly real through allegory. Yet The Voyage of the PAX has a character all its own. Where Mother Loyola invites us into the little home of Dilecta and her friendship with the King, Dom Bede Camm sends a crew of boys out onto the open sea, where prayer, obedience, sacrifice, courage, companionship, and perseverance are learned at the oar.
All aboard the Pax—and keep your eyes on the Golden City!
About this edition: The original 1906 text has been carefully edited for greater readability while preserving its period character and the author's meaning. Explanatory notes have also been added for Latin and other references unfamiliar to modern readers. The story itself has not been altered.
5.5" x 8.5" paperback 72 pages