Pontifex University Online Library
Pontifex Library exists to help students in their journeys to academic success and the truth. Our physical book collection resides at Holy Spirit College and can be viewed at Pontifex Online Library or by searching the catalog below. Our online resources are listed below, and we are working hard to add to them.
Pontifex University now offers access to ProjectMUSE. To access ProjectMUSE, please go to the 'Resources' section of the Library Resources group. Students should be added automatically to the group. If you do not have access to the group, please email Elise Harms at [email protected] to be added.
We are pleased to announce that we have joined Atla's reciprocal borrowing program. This program allows Pontifex University students to borrow materials from other particpating schools. A map of participating libraries can be found here. Students may be required to provide proof of enrollment to access other libraries' materials. If you have any questions about the reciprocal borrowing program, please email Elise Harms at [email protected].
JSTOR create a free account to get read online access to 100 articles a month.
Borrowing Policies for physical materials from our library.
| Research Resources | Description |
| Archive.org |
Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. |
| Atla Digital Library | " Find archival, historical, and special collections in religion and theology from libraries, religious institutions, and archives worldwide." |
| Biblical Theology Bulletin Featured Articles |
Biblical Theology Bulletin offers one article per issue to download for free. These featured articles “provide insights derived from critical biblical scholarship, culture-awareness, and thoughtful reflection on meanings of import for scholars of Bible and religion, religious educators, clergy, and those engaged with social studies in religion, inter-religious studies, and the praxis of biblical religion today.” |
| Bulletin Dei Verbum - In the footsteps of the Word |
" Bulletin Dei Verbum is published by the General Secretariat of the Catholic Biblical Federation. As a forum for reflection on issues in biblical pastoral ministry, Bulletin Dei Verbum publishes academic contributions, reports on projects and experiences of individual member organizations and CBF subregions, informs about Federation news and provides information concerning recent publications in the field. It appears twice a year in English, French, German and Spanish." |
| Canon Law Abstracts | " Canon Law Abstracts published twice yearly. The January issue covers periodicals which appear during the period January to June of the previous year, the July issue those which appear between July and December of the previous year." |
| The Catechism of the Catholic Church | " The Second Edition English Translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church includes the corrections promulgated by Pope John Paul II on 8 September 1997. These corrections to the English text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church were made to harmonize it with the official Latin text promulgated by Pope John Paul II on the same date." |
| Catholic Apologetics Online Library | A collection of resources on apologetics, morality, modern problems, the Church, Catholic teaching and Sacred Scripture. |
| Catholic ebooks Project - Legal, Free, & Faithful | " Provides a library of links to Christian ebooks and texts that may be read online or downloaded LEGALLY and for FREE, and are FAITHFUL to the truths that God entrusted to His one true Church." |
| Catholic New Archives |
Full text access to thousands of digitized and born-digital issues of Catholic news sources. Search by keyword, names, events and places. Browse by years, titles and dioceses. |
| Catholic Online Library: Catholicism Has the Answer | " This is a collection of Catholic Books in the Public Domain, many of which are in ready for download format in various eBook (and in some cases eAudioBook) file types." |
| The Catholic Portal | The Catholic Research Resources Portal, provides global, freely available access to rare, unique and/or uncommon materials in libraries, seminaries, special collections and archives. There are over 25 subject guides offering assistance in finding relevant materials in the Catholic Portal. |
| Catholic Research Resources Alliance (CRRA) | " The CRRA is a collaborative effort initiated by eight Catholic colleges and universities to share their resources electronically with librarians, archivists, researchers, scholars, and the general public, all who are interested in the Catholic experience. The mission of the CRRA is to provide enduring global access to Catholic research resources. Our immediate focus is creating access to those rare, unique and uncommon research materials relating to every aspect of the Catholic experience, which are held by college, university, and seminary libraries and archives in North America." |
Catholic Social Science Review: The Journal of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists |
" The Catholic Social Science Review is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal that publishes original articles and reviews in the social sciences and the humanities. It is the journal of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, and has an editorial focus on topics relevant to the social teaching of the Catholic Church. Print copies are available from the Society; online access is provided here without charge. The journal is published annually in September with assistance from the Franciscan University of Steubenville." |
| Catholic Treasury: Catholic belief, prayers and spiritual teaching | " This is not an "official" site but submits in all thing to the Holy See. This site features a Library of spiritual books to read online." |
| Code of Canon Law | The Code of Canon Law. |
| Digital Vatican Library |
" DigiVatLib is a digital library service. It provides free access to the Vatican Library’s digitized collections: manuscripts, incunabula, archival materials and inventories as well as graphic materials, coins and medals, printed materials (special projects). DigiVatLib is based on the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) technology, making digital materials easily accessible and usable." |
| Directory of Catholic Newspapers Online | This keyword searchable directory provides individual links to over 200 online Catholic newspapers. |
| EBSCO Open Dissertations |
"A free resource, accessible to all researchers, that includes more than 153,000 theses and dissertations in total, including 70,000 citations for theses and dissertations from 1902 to the present. The citations include a link to access the full text, when available, via the Institutional Repository where the thesis or dissertation is housed such as OhioLINK, Rochester Institute of Technology and North Carolina State University." |
| EWTN Library | " In today’s fast-paced world, having a comprehensive digital source for the latest Catholic content plays a critical role in communicating the tenets of our faith. Our Catholic library contains thousands of Church-related documents, derived from a variety of sources, including journals, newspapers and the Vatican website. Whether you’re keeping up with Church matters, or doing your own historical research, you’ll find the EWTN library to be a treasure trove of enlightened reading. It has quickly become the premiere resource for Catholic news, writing and analysis, in both print and audio form. Browse our Catholic library and discover Bible verses, Papal pronouncements, clerical writings, news analysis, and much more. Constantly updated. Always revealing. These are Catholic documents that bring the beauty of our religion to life." |
| Faith and Reason | Archives of the discontinued journal of Christendom College. |
| The Global Library on Theology and Ecumenism | Resources on Theology and Ecumenism. |
| The Holy See (Official Website of the Vatican) | The official website of the Vatican. |
| Jewish Virtual Library: The Catholic Church |
" The Jewish Virtual Library is the go-to source my students use for fact-based research pertaining to Judaism, Israel, and the Holocaust." " We hear this all the time from teachers. The Jewish Virtual Library (JVL) is the most comprehensive online encyclopedia of Jewish history, politics and culture. With nearly 25,000 entries, the JVL us a one-stop shop for students of all ages interested in anything from anti-Semitism to Zionism." |
| Journal of Markets and Morality | "Journal of Markets & Morality is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty. The journal promotes intellectual exploration of the relationship between economics and morality from both social science and theological perspectives." |
| Journal of Moral Theology | The Journal of Moral Theology is an open-access, peer-reviewed, international scholarly journal focused on Catholic moral theology. It is concerned with contemporary issues as well as our deeply rooted tradition of inquiry about the moral life. We seek to publish articles in the field of moral theology, as well as theological treatments of related topics in philosophy, economics, political philosophy, and psychology. |
| Library of Catholic Christian Classics | " Here you will find a collection of classic reference works, books on prayer, the Church, Church History, the Saints, Spirituality and much more." |
| Open Access Digital Theological Library | " The mission of Open Access Digital Theological Library (OADTL) is to curate high-quality content in religious studies and related disciplines from publisher websites, institutional repositories, scholarly societies, archives, and stable public domain collections. The OADTL uses the world’s most advanced integrated library system (ILS) for cataloging and discovery. This system, OCLC’s WorldShare, makes content easily discoverable and retrievable. The OADTL is staffed by professional librarians and curates content without regard for theological or confessional perspective. It is hoped that the increased access to high-quality religious studies content will serve scholars and students of religion." |
| Papal Encyclicals Online | " Papal Encyclicals Online has been named one of the “Best Free Reference Web Sites” on the internet by a special task force set up by the Reference and User Services Association of the American Library Association." |
| Paul Bechtold Library: Catholic Theological Union | Provides a variety of Catholic and theological resources. |
| Project Gutenberg | Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free ebooks with a focus on older works for which the U.S. copyright has expired. |
| Project MUSE Open Access |
Project MUSE offers open access (OA) books, journals, and digital humanities works from several distinguished university presses, scholarly societies, and independent not-for-profit academic publishers. |
| Saint John XXIII Library |
Provides a variety of Catholic resources. |
| Saint Kateri Conservation Center: Catholic Ecology Library | " An extensive online collection of statement on Ecology and the environment from faithful Catholic sources." |
| St. Paul Center | " The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology is a non-profit research and educational institute that promotes life-transforming Scripture study in the Catholic tradition. The Center serves clergy and laity, students and scholars, with research and study tools — from books and publications to multimedia and on-line programming." |
| Scott Hahn: Reading Toolbox and Student Resources | A collection of full text articles organized by subject matter. |
| Sharing the Word: Online Library of Resources for Catholic Life and Ministry | " The Sharing the Word ELibrary was set up in 2013 by the Pontifical Society of St. Peter the Apostle as part of the Sharing the Word Project for seminary libraries in the developing world. Under the leadership of Catholic Mission (Australia) its volunteers have automated some 20 seminary libraries with the open source ILS Koha in East Africa, Asia and the Pacific Region between 2013 and 2018. It also assisted in training library staff and cataloguing their collections and the shipment of books." |
| Traditional Catholic Books | A collection of free digital Catholic books. |
| Theological Commons | " The Theological Commons is a digital library of over 150,000 resources on theology and religion. Developed in partnership with the Internet Archive it contains books, journals, audio recordings, photographs, manuscripts, and other formats dating from 975 C.E. to the present." |
| Theological Studies | Founded and sponsored by the Society of Jesus, Theological Studies is a quarterly, Catholic scholarly journal that serves the Church and its mission by promoting a deeper understanding of the Christian faith through the publication of research in the theological disciplines and through reviews of noteworthy books. The journal has been in continuous publication since 1940. Articles and book reviews from 1940 up to the last five years can be accessed for free on the website. |
| Theology and Religion Online: Library of Catholic Thought | " Theology & Religion Online is the digital home to a growing range of resources designed for students and scholars of Theology, Biblical Studies, Religious Studies and related fields, from which libraries can create a rich, bespoke product package to best serve their users." |
| Theology Library at Spring Hill College | Provides a variety of theological resources. |
| United States Conference of Catholic Bishops | " The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is an assembly of the hierarchy of bishops who jointly exercise pastoral functions on behalf of the Christian faithful of the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands." |
| University of Notre Dame: McGrath Institute for Church Life | Provides a variety of Catholic and theological resources. |