Memorize the Faith! (and Most Anything Else): Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters »

Even saints can't live by truths they can't remember. That's why, over 700 years ago, St. Thomas Aquinas devised a method to help him recall the teachings of our Faith. It's so simple and easy that, over the years, countless Christians have relied on it ... and so can you! Refining techniques taught by the ancient philosophers, St. Thomas created a mental "memory mansion" and a way to store information in its "rooms," where it remains, fresh and accessible, until you return to retrieve it. Because it's a system that can be used to remember anything, Aquinas's method is more powerful and more flexible than all the memory tricks we learned as school children.

No wonder author Dr. Kevin Vost has used a "memory mansion" for years now to help him recall names, dates, birthdays, grocery lists, and a host of other things, including (just for fun, and in forward and backward order) random fifty-digit numbers called out to him by students in his college classes. Of course, St. Thomas created his memory system for tasks more serious than that. Specifically, he designed it so we could come to know God better and love Him more. In these pages, Dr. Vost remains faithful to St. Thomas's vision, showing how you can use this system to recall hundreds of key Church teachings, Bible verses, theological terms, and other elements of the Faith every Catholic needs to know by heart.

Soon you'll be able to recite in an instant the 10 Commandments, the 12 Apostles, the 7 Cardinal Virtues, the 7 Capital Sins, the 9 Beatitudes, the 14 Stations of the Cross, and more, including (just for fun!) all 73 books of the Bible ... in their proper order! Memorize the Faith! is a treasure for any Catholicoverwhelmed by data today. Read it and watch your memory power grow, along with your love for God, who is the Author of memory and its final end.

About the Author:
Kevin Vost, Psy.D., has taught psychology at Lincoln Land Community College, MacMurray College, and the University of Illinois at Springfield

Notes to Readers of This Book
A Note to Adult Readers     xiii
A Note to Younger Readers     xvi
A Note to Homeschoolers     xx
Memory Master Tips and Facts     xx
The Stone the Builders Rejected
How to Use This Book     5
The Memory System of St. Thomas Aquinas     21
As for Me and My House
The Ten Commandments     31
The Seven Capital Sins     35
The Seven Virtues     43
The Nine Beatitudes     49
The Seven Sacramerits     55
The Twenty Mysteries of the Rosary     61
In My Father's House Are Many Mansions
The Four Marks of the Church     75
The Four Last Things     81
The Five Precepts of the Church     85
The Six Sins Against the Holy Spirit     89
The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit     95
The Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy     101
The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy     105
Ten Holy Days of Obligation in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church     111
The Twelve Apostles     117
The Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit     121
The Fourteen Stations of the Cross     125
Grow in Grace and in Knowledge of Our Lord
Five Proofs of the Existence ofGod     131
The Forty-Six Books of the Old Testament     137
The Twenty-Seven Books of the New Testament     157
Twenty-One Centuries of Church History     171
The Twenty-Five Parts of the Cardinal Virtues     185
The Forty-Four Daughters of the Capital Sins     193
Three More Mnemonic Systems     199
Twelve Red-Letter Sayings of Jesus Christ     211
Remember What I Preach
Applications for All Ages     221
How to Teach This System to Your Children     229
Conclusion: From Memory and Understanding to Faith and Works     241
Afterword: An Ode to Memorization     247
Biographical Note   Kevin Vost     249