The Medieval Preaching and Spirituality Collection (34 vols.)

by Thomas Aquinas; St. John of Damascus; Bernard of Clairvaux; Boethius

and

17 more

Publishers:

Church Press Company; Macmillan Co.; William Heinemann; Browne and Nolan

and

24 more

, 1844–1963

Overview

Far from being the “dark ages” once disparaged by the rationalists of the Enlightenment, modern scholarship has revealed the Middle Ages as a period of profound intellectual, artistic, and spiritual vitality. The culture of the West revolved around Christianity, and the intellectual life culminated not in abstract theology, but in the sermon. It was in pursuit of better preaching that the scholars of the Middle Ages organized the Bible by chapter and verse, why they compiled countless lexicons and concordances, why they wrote their summae and their commentaries, and ultimately why they built the university system. The preaching of the Middle Ages was both exegetical and pastoral. Its purpose was to bring the Word of God to life and through it to convert the people. They believed that preaching was a grace and that the Holy Spirit spoke through the preacher, interpreting Scripture. Preaching and Spirituality were therefore intimately connected.

The Medieval Preaching and Spirituality Collection (34 vols.) offers a wide of range of important texts from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries. It includes sermons from the most acclaimed preachers of the period as well as resources commonly used in their composition. It also includes works of a more spiritual nature, allowing one to place the sermons within their context. With the Medieval Preaching and Spirituality Collection (34 vols.), the spiritual richness of the Middle Ages becomes available for contemporary Scripture study.

With the Logos edition all Scripture passages in the Medieval Preaching and Spirituality Collection (34 vols.) are tagged and appear on mouse-over. What’s more, Scripture references are linked to the wealth of language resources in your Logos library. This makes these texts more powerful and easier to access than ever before for scholarly work or personal Bible study. With the advanced search features of Logos Bible Software, you can perform powerful searches by topic or Scripture reference—finding, for example, every mention of “Clement,” or “council.”

Read more

Key Features

• Includes foundational works, such as Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy and the Etymologies of Isidore of Seville
• Includes extensive works from St. Gregory the Great, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas and texts from all the other Medieval Doctors of the Church
• Over 10,000 pages of fully searchable and linked text

Product Details

• Title: Medieval Preaching and Spirituality Collection (34 vols.)
• Volumes: 34
• Pages: 10,055

The Sayings of the Fathers

• Editor: Owen Chadwick
• Publisher: Westminster Press
• Publication Date: 1958
• Pages: 156

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

From the middle of the fifth century, and probably from the late fourth century, collections of sayings from the hermits of the Egyptian desert began to be circulated. Smaller collections of these sayings were gradually assembled into larger collections arranged alphabetically, by author, or by subject. In The Sayings of the Fathers, Owen Chadwick translates the standard and celebrated edition of this collection of sayings that was printed by the Jesuit Heribert Rosweyde at Antwerp in 1615. Chadwick chose this version to translate because it is one of the earliest of the western collections, and because it was probably the most influential of the collections in western monastic history.

Owen Chadwick was made Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 1947, and in 1968 was elected Regius Professor of Modern History, a chair he held for fourteen years. A prominent Christian historian, his books include The Secularization of the European Mind in the 19th Century, Hensley Henson: A Study in the Friction between Church and state, and The Christian Church in the Cold War.

Boethius: The Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy

• Author: Boethius
• Translators: H. F. Stewart and E. K. Rand
• Series: Loeb Classical Library
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication Date: 1918
• Pages: 420

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

During his brief life of forty-four years, Boethius authored and translated numerous important works and treatises on the Christian faith. Considered by Stewart and Rand to be "the last of the Roman philosophers and the first of the scholastic theologians," an imprisoned Boethius penned The Consolation of Philosophy, his best known work, before being executed in 524 A. D. This volume contains the Latin texts and English translations of The Consolation of Philosophy, as well as the tractates On the Trinity (two treatises), On the Catholic Faith, and A Treatise Against Eutyches and Nestorius.

Hugh Fraser Stewart (1863–1948) was a fellow and chaplain of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the author of numerous books on Boethius, Augustine of Hippo, and Pascal.

Edward Kennard Rand (1871–1945) was born in Boston, Massachusetts and educated at Harvard where he taught medieval history and Latin for forty years. He was the founder and first president of the Medieval Academy of America, the founder and first editor of Speculum, and president of the American Philological Association from 1922–1923. He is the author of several books, including Founders of the Middle Ages and The Building of Eternal Rome, as well as hundreds of scholarly articles and essays.

Morals on the Book of Job, vol. 1

• Author: St. Gregory the Great
• Translator: Charles Marriott
• Publisher: John Henry Parker
• Publication Date: 1844
• Pages: 621

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

St. Gregory the Great's massive four-volume commentary on the Book of Job is thought to have been written between 578 and 595. The first two chapters from the Book of Job are explained in a three part structure: historical, allegorical, and moral application. Gregory the Great then follows a historical, mystical, and moral pattern of explaining the Book of Job. Volume one of the Morals on the Book of Job covers the Book of Job chapters 1–12.

Throughout the whole Church, and in particular England, the works of St. Gregory became the foundation of the moral, theological, and spiritual teaching during the centuries after his death. It is not too much to say that his Morals on the Book of Job and his treatise on the Pastoral Charge long formed the storehouses from which generations of spiritual writers drew their inspirations, their ideas, and frequently their very words.

—The Dublin Review

Charles Marriott (1811–1858) was an Anglican priest, fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and one of the members of the Oxford Movement.

Morals on the Book of Job, vol. 2

• Author: St. Gregory the Great
• Translator: Charles Marriott
• Publisher: John Henry Parker
• Publication Date: 1845
• Pages: 597

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

St. Gregory the Great's massive four-volume commentary on the Book of Job is thought to have been written between 578 and 595. Gregory the Great explicates the Book of Job in a three part structure: historical, mystical, and moral application. Volume two of the Morals on the Book of Job covers the Book of Job chapters 12–31.

Charles Marriott (1811–1858) was an Anglican priest, fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and one of the members of the Oxford movement.

Morals on the Book of Job, vol. 3, part 1

• Author: St. Gregory the Great
• Translator: Charles Marriott
• Publisher: John Henry Parker
• Publication Date: 1847
• Pages: 360

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

St. Gregory the Great's massive four-volume commentary on the Book of Job is thought to have been written between 578 and 595. Gregory the Great explicates the Book of Job in a three part structure: historical, mystical, and moral application. Volume three, part one of the Morals on the Book of Job covers the Book of Job chapters 32–38.

Charles Marriott (1811–1858) was an Anglican priest, fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and one of the members of the Oxford movement.

Morals on the Book of Job, vol. 3, part 2

• Author: St. Gregory the Great
• Translator: Charles Marriott
• Publisher: John Henry Parker
• Publication Date: 1850
• Pages: 558

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

St. Gregory the Great's massive four-volume commentary on the Book of Job is thought to have been written between 578 and 595. Gregory the Great explicates the Book of Job in a three part structure: historical, mystical, and moral application. Volume three, part two of the Morals on the Book of Job covers the Book of Job chapters 38–41.

Charles Marriott (1811–1858) was an Anglican priest, fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and one of the members of the Oxford movement.

An Encyclopedia of the Dark Ages: Isidore of Seville

• Author: Isidore of Seville
• Translator: Ernest Brehaut
• Publisher: Longmans, Green & Co.
• Publication Date: 1912
• Pages: 274

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Before offering an English translation of St. Isidore of Seville's classic Etymologies, Ernest Brehaut provides a biography of Isidore's life, and explores his relationship to previous culture, his view of education, and his world-view in general. Isidore's vast encyclopedic systemization of ancient learning includes subjects such as theology, philosophy, medicine, and music, and is considered one of the most important sources for the history of intellectual culture in the early Middle Ages.

Ernest Brehaut (1873–1953) was a professor of history at Columbia University, New York, and also the author of History of the Franks.

On Holy Images

• Author: St. John Damascene
• Translator: Mary H. Allies
• Publisher: Thomas Baker
• Publication Date: 1898
• Pages: 145

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Responding to the edict by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III banning the veneration or exhibition of holy images, St. John Damascene penned a defense of holy images that garnered his reputation as an important thinker and writer. In On Holy Images, Allies provides an English translation from the original Greek of John Damascene’s classic text, as well as translating three sermons on the Assumption of Mary.

A translation of the treatise on holy images by the last of the great Greek Fathers, who is at the same time the definite forerunner of the speculative method inaugurated by the scholastics of the Middle Ages, has a special interest and significance for our time.

—The American Ecclesiastical Review

The Damascene’s polemic is of great historical as well as dogmatic interest. It deserves attention for its argument, its style, and its effects.

—The Critical Review of Theological and Philosophical Literature

Mary H. Allies translated numerous works from the Church Fathers, including Leaves from St. Augustine, as well as the biography of her father, Thomas Allies, the Story of a Mind.

Barlaam and Ioasaph

• Author: St. John Damascene
• Translators: G. R. Woodward and H. Mattingly
• Publisher: The Macmillan Co.
• Publication Date: 1914
• Pages: 640

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The Greek legend of Barlaam and Ioasaph, traditionally attributed to St. John Damascene, serves as a retelling of the life of Buddha through a Christian lens. Although the story’s original plot may have been adapted from Christians of the East for their own use, St. Damascene’s Barlaam and Ioasaph is clearly a celebration of Christian monasticism. The Greek text and the English translation are both provided in this volume, along with an in-depth introduction in which the authors discuss its authorship and more.

Despite its considerable interest, religious and in places fairly human, Barlaam and Ioasaph has never before been completely translated into English from the original, and the present undertaking is a work of considerable value, carefully executed.

—The Nation

George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848–1934) was born in Hamilton Square, Birkenhead and educated at Gonville and Casius College, Cambridge. Woodward is most known for his writing and translating of hymns, and his works include Carols for Easter and Ascension-tide and A Cambridge Carol Book: Being Fifty-two Songs for Christmas, Easter, and Other Seasons.

Harold Mattingly (1884–1964) was Craven Scholar and Fellow of Gonville and Casius College, Cambridge. He joined the British Museum in 1910 in the Department of Printed Books before moving to the Department of Coins and Medals where he was responsible for a total revision of the chronology and study of Roman coinage. His other works include Earliest Times to the Fall of the Roman, The Imperial Civil Service of Rome, and The Man in the Roman Street.

Explanation of the Rule of St. Augustine

• Author: Hugh of St. Victor
• Translator: Dom Aloysius Smith
• Publisher: Sands & Company
• Publication Date: 1911
• Pages: 121

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Sometimes thought of as a "Second Augustine" ("alter Ausgustinus"), Hugh of St. Victor (c. 1096–1141) taught at the Augustinian Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris after which he is named. His numerous theological works and commentaries on Augustine were highly regarded, and the hundreds of original works that have survived in libraries all across Europe today reflect how popular and influential they were. Dom Aloysius Smith presents an English translation of Hugh of St. Victor's Explanation of the Rule of St. Augustine from the original Latin.

Dom Aloysius Smith was a celebrated translator whose numerous translations include Spiritual Director and Physician: The Spiritual Treatment of Sufferers from Nerves and Scruples and Life of St. Agnes: Virgin and Martyr.

The Didascalicon of Hugh of St. Victor

• Author: Hugh of St. Victor
• Translator: Jerome Taylor
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication Date: 1961
• Pages: 254

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Composed in Paris in the late 1120's, Hugh of St. Victor's Didascalicon provided intellectual and practical orientation for students of varying ages and levels of attainment who came in numbers to the newly founded Abbey of Saint Victor. As students took up studies at their different levels, this "medieval guide to the arts" offered a survey of all they should ultimately read, and of the order, manner, and purpose which should govern their reading, both in the arts or disciplines, and in Sacred Scripture. Jerome Taylor provides an in-depth introduction to The Didascalicon of Hugh of St. Victor where he discusses the life of Hugh of St. Victor, the translation process from Latin to English, and the various original manuscripts still in existence.

This treatise, produced in the early years of the twelfth-century Renaissance by one of its most important theologians and educators, offers a vision of human knowledge as an integrated whole that works to perfect the human person. It is a crucial text for those interested in the study of the Bible in the Middle Ages, in the history of schools and pedagogy, and in the survival of the classical tradition in the West.

—Caroline Walker Bynum, Columbia University

Jerome Taylor was a professor of Medieval Studies at Notre Dame University. He has translated, edited, or contributed to numerous books, including Medieval English Drama: Essays Critical and Contextual, Chaucer Criticism: An Anthology, and Nature, Man, and Society in the Twelfth-Century: Essays on New Theological Perspectives in the Latin West.

The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise

• Translator: Ralph Fletcher Seymour
• Publisher: Geo. F. McKiernan & Co.
• Publication Date: 1903
• Pages: 115

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Like Romeo and Juliet, Abelard and Heloise are one of the most celebrated couples of all time. And like the Shakespearean play, their love story is marred by tragedy. The letters contained in this volume are some of the most passionate love letters ever written. Translated from the original 1722 Latin edition into English, Ralph Fletcher Seymour provides a brief introduction to their powerful, heart-wrenching story.

The Love of Abelard and Heloise is one of the romances, founded in literal reality, that have never lost their power.

—American Lithographer

Ralph Fletcher Seymour (1876–1966) was an artist-in-residence at Knox College at taught illustration at the Art Institute of Chicago. He was a noted designer of bookplates, and for almost seven decades he ran his own book publishing firm in Chicago.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

• Author: St. Bernard of Clairvaux
• Translator: H. J. Lawlor
• Publisher: SPCK
• Publication Date: 1920
• Pages: 183

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Written before the Synod of Kells met in 1152, Bernard of Clairvaux's biography of Malachy of Armagh covers Malachy's entire spirit-filled life, from boyhood to his canonization. Before the English translation of St. Bernard's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh, translator H. J. Lawlor provides an in-depth, 60+ page introduction to the state of the Irish Church during the time of St. Malachy's life, a time he calls "a Reformation, though it might perhaps be more accurately described as an ecclesiastical revolution." Also included with this volume are various letters and two sermons from St. Bernard.

Dr. Lawlor has given us a delightful translation of St. Bernard's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh. His introduction and annotations admit us to an intimate view of the Church of Ireland in the most critical period of her history.

—Church Quarterly Review

Hugh Jackson Lawlor (1860–1938) was Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Dublin and was also an Anglican Dean. He was the author and translator of numerous books, including Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, The Heresy of the Phrygians, and A Fresh Authority for the Synod of Kells, 1152.

Concerning Grace and Free Will

• Author: St. Bernard of Clairvaux
• Translator: Watkin W. Williams
• Publisher: SPCK
• Publication Date: 1920
• Pages: 95

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Watkin W. Williams translates from the original Latin into English St. Bernard of Clairvaux's treatise Concerning Grace and Free Will. Williams provides abundant notes and commentary on St. Bernard's exposition, as well as an in-depth introduction.

Watkin Wynn Williams is the author and translator of numerous books, including Monastic Studies, Studies in St. Bernard of Clairvaux, The Moral Theology of the Sacrament of Penance, and St. Bernard: The Man and His Message.

Life and Works of Saint Bernard, vol. 1

• Author: St. Bernard of Clairvaux
• Translator: Samuel J. Eales
• Publisher: Burns & Oates
• Publication Date: 1889
• Pages: 456

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In volume one of Samuel J. Eales' comprehensive two-volume collection of letters from Saint Bernard, Eales provides an in-depth introduction to the life and works of St. Bernard, a Bernadine Chronology, and a quick list of dates for each of the included letters. Eales also provides a summary at the top of each letter, as well as concise biographical material for each letter's recipient. Volume one includes letters 1–145.

In his writings great natural powers shine forth resplendently, an intellect more than that of the subtle Abelard, an eloquence that was irresistible, an imagination like a poet, and a simplicity that wins the admiration of all. Priests will find it a most valuable book for spiritual reading and sermons.

—Catholic World

No writer of the Middle Ages is so fruitful of moral inspiration as S. Bernard, no character is more beautiful, and no man in any age whatever so faithfully represented all that was best in the impulses of his time, or exercise so powerful an influence upon it. . . . There is no man whose letters cover so many subjects of abiding interest, or whose influence was so widely spread.

—Athenaeum

Samuel J. Eales was Principal of St. Boniface, Warminster, and the author and translator of numerous books, including Sermons Ancient and Modern, The Voice from the Cross: Seven Brief Meditations on the Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ Spoken from His Cross, and The Privilege of Prayer.

Life and Works of Saint Bernard, vol. 2

• Author: St. Bernard of Clairvaux
• Translator: Samuel J. Eales
• Publisher: Burns & Oates
• Publication Date: 1889
• Pages: 485

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In volume two of Samuel J. Eales' comprehensive two-volume collection of letters from Saint Bernard, Eales provides an introduction with a description of the position and site of the Abbey of Clairvaux and some notes on the Seal of St. Bernard. Eales also provides a summary at the top of each letter, as well as concise biographical material for each letter's recipient. Volume one includes letters 146–380.

The letters are of great historic interest, and many of them most touching. The simple earnestness of the man, and his utter freedom from ambition, strike us on almost every page.

—Notes and Queries

English readers of every class and creed owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Eales for the great and useful work which he has undertaken. It is strange that now for the first time has such a task been even, as far as we are aware, approached. We have indeed much to be grateful for to the first English translator of S. Bernard's works.

—This Month

Samuel J. Eales was Principal of St. Boniface, Warminster, and the author and translator of numerous books, including Sermons Ancient and Modern, The Voice from the Cross: Seven Brief Meditations on the Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ Spoken from His Cross, and The Privilege of Prayer.

St. Bernard's Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles, vol. 1

• Author: St. Bernard of Clairvaux
• Publisher: Brown and Nolan
• Publication Date: 1920
• Pages: 497

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Translated from the original Latin into English, these sermons on the "Song of Solomon, instead of being dry-as-dust homilies, are as varied and many-colored as is the spiritual life, every aspect of which they discuss with equal solidity and elegance." Volume one of St. Bernard's Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles contains sermons 1–43.

Bernard surpasses all the other Doctors of the Church.

—Martin Luther

The Abbot Bernard, in his book De Consideratione, speaks in the language of truth itself.

—John Calvin

He was gifted with a sublime eloquence, and so rich in saintly wisdom and eminent in holiness, that while we garner his teaching we should make his life our model. Bernard, the great contemplative, tasted all the sweetness of prayer; it you, too, would find a relish in prayer, ruminate his words. Not only are they spiritual and heart-penetrating, but they are also exquisite in style and calculated to impel you to the service of God.

—St. Bonaventure

St. Bernard's Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles, vol. 2

• Author: St. Bernard of Clairvaux
• Publisher: Brown and Nolan
• Publication Date: 1920
• Pages: 539

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Translated from the original Latin into English, these sermons on the "Song of Solomon, instead of being dry-as-dust homilies, are as varied and many-colored as is the spiritual life, every aspect of which they discuss with equal solidity and elegance." Volume two of St. Bernard's Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles contains sermons 44–86.

He treats theological subjects after the manner of the ancients, on which account, and because of the great excellence of his writings he is reckoned amongst the Fathers. And though the youngest of them in time, he is one of the most useful to those who desire to study and to improve their hearts in sincere piety.

—Alban Butler

What can so enliven our devotion, excite our contrition, or inflame our love as the life and teaching of the blessed Father St. Bernard? Where shall we find one more efficacious in exhorting to virtue, in dissuading from vice, in lifting our affections from earth to heaven?

—Henricus de Hassia

The sermons are tremulous with the incessant glimmer of allegories. . . . so rich in their spiritual suggestiveness that they strike upon the mind like rays straight from heaven, and belonging to that 'light that never was on sea or shore.'

—Samuel J. Eales

Sermons of St. Bernard on Advent & Christmas

• Author: St. Bernard of Clairvaux
• Publisher: R. & T. Washbourne
• Publication Date: 1909
• Pages: 166

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

These nineteen sermons, originally given in Latin at the Chapter-house at Clairvaux, all relate to the mysteries of Advent and Christmas. John Cuthbert Hedley, the Bishop of Newport from 1881–1915, provides and introduction to these illuminating sermons.

The Moral Concordances of Saint Anthony of Padua

• Author: St. Anthony of Padua and Lisbon
• Translator: J. M. Neale
• Publisher: J. T. Hayes
• Publication Date: 1867
• Pages: 146

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

St. Anthony of Padua was not only one of the greatest, but one of the most popular preachers of the Middle Ages. His extant sermons and sermon notes evince a grasp of the Scriptures which well entitled him to the name bestowed on him by Gregory IX, "The Ark of the Testament." St. Anthony died in 1231, and it wasn't until 1638 that the Moral Concordances were discovered in a library attached to the Church called Aracoeli, in Rome. J. M. Neale provides the English translation along with an in-depth introduction.

The book needs no commendation at our hands, it having already attained to the position of a standard work, yet we cannot do less than record our deliberate conviction that no clergyman's library is complete without it.

—Union Review

John Mason Neale was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge where he founded the Cambridge Camden Society (later known as the Ecclesiological Society). He was also the principal founder of the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, a religious organization founded as the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union in 1864. A well known hymnist and translator, his works include An Introduction to the History of the Holy Eastern Church, Essays on Liturgiology and Church History, and O come, O come, Emmanuel.

The Exempla or Illustrative Stories from the Sermones Vulgares of Jacques de Vitry

• Author: Jacques de Vitry
• Editor: Thomas Frederick Crane
• Publisher: David Nutt
• Publication Date: 1890
• Pages: 303

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Jacques de Vitry was one of the most famous preachers of the Middle Ages, a true master of the medieval sermon form. This style used exempla, or examples, from everyday life, to illustrate the moral interpretation of Scripture passages. These exempla became themselves famous and widely used and offer a window into the moral imagination of the Christians of the Middle Ages, an imagination that intermixed the mundane with the fantastic and sublime. Preachers borrowed these exempla from each other and over the centuries they often took on established, proverbial forms. The exempla of Jacques de Vitry are extracted from his sermons, but they cannot be considered to have been written by him. Rather, they represent a body of fables, proverbs, and short tales that were widely used in the sermons of the Middle Ages and would often have been recognizable to audiences.

Thomas Frederick Crane studied law at Princeton and Columbia Law School and worked as a librarian at the newly founded Cornell University. At Cornell, he taught French, Italian, Spanish, as well as Medieval Literature. Crane was one of the founders of Journal of American Folklore and later served as the first Dean of the Arts College.

Ninety-nine Homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas upon the Epistles and Gospels for Forty-nine Sundays of the Christian Year

• Author: Thomas Aquinas
• Translator: John M. Ashley
• Publisher: Church Press Company
• Publication Date: 1867
• Pages: 182

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

These homilies by the great St. Thomas Aquinas are divided into the following groups:

• The Advent Homilies (9)
• The Epiphany and Ante-Lenten Homilies (16)
• The Lenten Homilies (12)
• The Easter Homilies (12)
• The Homilies from Trinity to Advent, part 1 (24)
• The Homilies from Trinity to Advent, part 2 (26)

Valuable as giving the Scholastic interpretation of many texts; valuable as showing how the Schoolmen saw our Blessed Lord as shadowed forth in type and prophecy in God's servants of old.

—Preface

John M. Ashley is the editor and translator of numerous works, including A Year with Great Preachers, Eucharistic Sermons by Great Preachers, and Origen the Preacher.

The Religious State, the Episcopate and the Priestly Office

• Author: Thomas Aquinas
• Translator: J. Procter
• Publisher: Newman Press
• Publication Date: 1950
• Pages: 166

An English translation of De perfectione spiritualis uitae, The Religious State, the Episcopate and the Priestly Office explores the doctrines concerning religious life and Christian perfection.

John Procter was ordained in 1872 and was a parish priest of St. Dominic's Priory Church in London. He authored and translated numerous books, including Saint Sebastian: Lay-Apostle and Martyr, The Perpetual Rosary, Short Lives of the Dominican Saints, and The Catholic Creed; or, What do Catholics Believe?

The Bread of Life, or, St. Thomas Aquinas on the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar

• Author: Thomas Aquinas
• Translator: Henry Augustus Rawes
• Publisher: Burns & Oates
• Publication Date: 1879
• Pages: 303

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Divided into seven parts, The Bread of Life consists of thirty meditations on the Blessed Sacrament. Rawes has translated the original Latin into English and provided summaries for each meditation in the table of contents.

Henry Augustus Rawes (1826–1885) was born at Easington near Durham, England, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. His numerous works include Servants of the Holy Ghost, Foregleams of the Desired and Septem; or Seven Ways of Hearing Mass.

The Life of Christ

• Author: St. Bonaventure
• Translator: W. H. Hutchings
• Publisher: Rivingtons
• Publication Date: 1881
• Pages: 337

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The Life of Christ consists of one hundred meditations on the life and work of Jesus Christ. These short meditations, averaging 1–3 pages in length, poetically illuminate the Scriptures, and "endeavors throughout to fix the gaze of the soul on the Divine Object."

It was written, and has been translated, to be a guide through the high and sacred ways of the spiritual life; the temper of prayer and faithful contemplation is astir in every chapter; and the true canon of its excellence can only be applied by those who have used it according to the intention of its author.

—Church Quarterly Review

W. H. Hutchings was Sub-warden of the House of Mercy, Clewer, and the author and translator of numerous works, including The Confessions of S. Augustine, The Life of Prayer: A Series of Lectures, and The Mystery of Temptation: A Course of Lectures.

The Virtues of a Religious Superior

• Author: St. Bonaventure
• Translator: Sabinus Mollitor
• Publisher: B. Herder Book Co.
• Publication Date: 1921
• Pages: 112

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This classic handbook for those who take leadership roles in the church is divided into seven sections:

• The Selection of Superiors
• Zeal for Justice
• Pity or Compassion
• Patience
• Edification
• Prudent Discretion
• Devotion to Prayer

Sabinus Mollitor (1865–1924) earned his degree in classical studies from Quincy College and received the Franciscan habit in 1886. He served as pastor at a number of German and American Indian parishes in Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio, and as a prison chaplain in Joliet, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri.

The Life of Saint Francis

• Author: St. Bonaventure
• Translator: E. Gurney Salter
• Publisher: J. M. Dent and Co.
• Publication Date: 1904
• Pages: 219

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Composed between 1260 and 1263 at the bidding of a Chapter-General of the Order, The Life of Saint Francis was intended to supersede former "Lives or Legends," and to become the official biography of the Saint. This classic volume is a standard reference for the study of the life of Saint Francis.

Emma Gurney Salter translated over thirty-five books, including Franciscan Legends in Italian Art, The Little Flowers of St. Francis, and The Vision of God.

Mystical Opuscula

• Author: St. Bonaventure
• Translator: José de Vinck
• Publisher: St. Anthony Guild Press
• Publication Date: 1960
• Pages: 266

This volume contains five works that cemented Bonaventure’s reputation as a mystical theologian: The Journey of the Mind to God, The Triple Way, Tree of Life, Mystical Vine, and On the Perfection of Life. This edition of José de Vinck's translation of these texts is considered the authoritative, critical edition.

Baron José M. G. A. de Vinck is a publisher, editor, translator, writer, and owner of Alleluia Press. He wrote and translated books on philosophy and theology.

Breviloquium

• Author: St. Bonaventure
• Translator: José de Vinck
• Publisher: St. Anthony Guild Press
• Publication Date: 1963
• Pages: 326

This is Bonaventure’s comprehensive presentation of Christian doctrine, covering the Trinity, creation, the fall of man, the person and mission of Christ, the role of grace, the sacraments, and the Last Judgment.

Baron José M. G. A. de Vinck is a publisher, editor, translator, writer, and owner of Alleluia Press. He wrote and translated books on philosophy and theology.

On Union with God

• Author: St. Albert the Great
• Editor: P. J. Berthier
• Publisher: R. & T. Washbourne
• Publication Date: 1911
• Pages: 111

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Written towards the end of his life, St. Albert the Great's On Union with God aimed to lay the principles down needed to lead the highest spiritual life. In the Preface, P. J. Berthier writes: "It seems as though, while one reads, the mists of earth vanish and the snowy summits appear of the mounts of God. We breathe only the pure atmosphere of prayer, peace, and love, and the one great fact of the universe, the Divine Presence, is felt and realized without effort."

P. J. Berthier is the author and editor of numerous books, including Biblical Examples of Sentence, with Extracts from the Old and New Testament and The Practice of Style: Simplicity, Precision, and Harmony.

The Form of Perfect Living and Other Prose Treatises

• Author: Richard Rolle
• Translator: Geraldine E. Hodgson
• Publisher: Thomas Baker
• Publication Date: 1910
• Pages: 192

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This volume contains Geraldine E. Hodgson's translations of four of Richard Rolle of Hampole's prose treatises: The Form of Perfect Living, Our Daily Life, On Grace, and An Epistle on Charity.

Geraldine E. Hodgson is the author and translator of numerous works, including In the Way of the Saints, Early English Instructions and Devotions, and The Sanity of Mysticism: A Study of Richard Rolle.

Treatise on Consummate Perfection

• Author: St. Catherine of Siena
• Translator: Augusta Theodosia Drane
• Publisher: Longmans, Green & Co.
• Publication Date: 1899
• Pages: 10

Together with St. Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Siena is one of the two patron saints of Italy. Of her extant writings, her Dialogue, an abundant number of letters, and a series of prayers, are well known. This smaller work, Treatise on Consummate Perfection, is also attributed to Catherine, and is also written in the form of a brief Dialogue.

Augusta Theodosia Drane (1823–1894) wrote numerous books of prose and poetry, including The History of Saint Dominic, The Life of St Catherine of Siena, The Knights of St John and Songs in the Night and Other Poems.

The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin Catherine of Siena

• Author: St. Catherine of Siena
• Translator: Algar Thorold
• Publisher: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.
• Publication Date: 1896
• Pages: 360

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

After providing an in-depth introduction on the study of mysticism, Algar Thorold provides the English translation of Catherine of Siena's Dialogue, a series of colloquies divided into four treatises: "A Treatise of Divine Providence," "A Treatise of Discretion," "A Treatise of Prayer," and "A Treatise of Obedience."

Mr. Thorold decidedly deserves the thanks of students of mysticism for his fine rendering of the Dialogue, and for his scholarly introduction. The Dialogue is a treasure-house of devotional inspiration to those who can read aright its messages, and the place it has held in the Church is sufficient guarantee of its astounding intellectual merit and its salutary efficacy.

—Freeman's Journal

Those who study mystical literature owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Algar Thorold for rendering into English one of the great classics of mysticism. . . . Mr. Thorold's translation reads easily and well.

—Scotsman

Mr. Thorold's excellent essay on Mysticism shows an extensive acquaintance with leaders of modern thought outside the Catholic Church, and their views on the supernatural. The subject is beset with dangers, but the author has written nothing that is not in accordance with sound theology.

—Tablet

Algar Labouchere Thorold (1866–1936) is the author and translator of numerous books, including Six Masters in Disillusion, The Life of Henry Labouchere, as well as the introduction to Mary G. Steegmann's translation of The Book of Divine Consolation of the Blessed Angela of Foligno.

Mediæval Preachers and Mediæval Preaching: A Series of Extracts

• Author: J. M. Neale
• Publisher: J. & C. Mozley
• Publication Date: 1856
• Pages: 340

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

A survey of extracts from sermons from the Middle Ages, J. M. Neale provides an in-depth introduction to the sermons of that epoch, and then provides notes on the sermons sampled. Sermons included come from eminent Medieval preachers such as: St. Boniface, St. Bede, St. Atto of Vercell, St. Peter Damiani, St. Bruno of Aste, Peter Abaelard, Adam Scotus, Thomas à Kempis, and more.

A remarkable book; chiefly valuable to clergymen of all persuasions, but not without interest to the literary student, or the thoughtful frequenter of public worship.

—The Living Age

John Mason Neale was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge where he founded the Cambridge Camden Society (later known as the Ecclesiological Society). He was also the principal founder of the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, a religious organization founded as the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union in 1864. A well known hymnist and translator, his works include An Introduction to the History of the Holy Eastern Church, Essays on Liturgiology and Church History, and O come, O come, Emmanuel.