best books about/by saints/sainthood?

[Anonymous No.11864915]

thanks guys

interested in the general subject, hoping to find a book that encompasses the most important bits of understanding

[Anonymous No.11864923]

Read "The Life of St. Anthony," written by St. Athanasius. It's a book about a saint written by a saint, you can't get much better than that.

[Anonymous No.11864927]

also, who are your favorite saints, and why?
which inspire you the most personally?

I really like St Joan of Arc and seeing how her life and actions are documented as part of mainstream history

>>11864923
thanks m8

[Anonymous No.11864941]

Lives of the Saint by Alban Butler

flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14796058583/

sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/index.htm

[ϟ · Z H K N D · ϟ !Ry9.23Wow. No.11864947]

— "MEMOIRS OF JEANNE D'ARC SURNAMED LA PUCELLE D'ORLEANS; WITH THE HISTORY OF HER TIMES" BY WILLIAM HENRY, AND JOHN J WRIGHT.

— “SCI VIAS DOMINI”, “LIBER VITÆ MERITORVM”, AND “LIBER DIVINORVM OPERVM”, HILDEGARD VON BINGEN.

[Anonymous No.11864949]

>>11864927

St Joseph, Terror of demons?

Ate baked bread in honor of St Polycarp once, remembering his survival when he was trying to be burned alive

[Anonymous No.11864960]

>>11864927

Saint Dionysius the Areopagite

[Anonymous No.11864970]

When you ask for books by saints it makes me think you're looking for something with a focus on mysticism and a kind of Christ-like life of extraordinary devotion or suffering. Sainthood is a posthumous category but 'saintliness' is easily recognisable. Augustine, Aquinas, John Paul II etc. are saints but their writings are relatively "secular" in the sense of being possessed by a kind of intellectual rather than ecstatic or contemplative temperament.
Anyway, some books that come to mind:
>The Interior Castle + The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila
>The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross
>The Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux
>Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich (not canonised yet)
>Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales

I read a book about the Fatima kids called 'Our Lady of Fatima' by William T. Walsh. I'm kind of dubious about some of the testimony from the priests and stuff though. I remember trying to verify some of the info without success. Whatever. Interesting account of the kids lives and personalities as well as the social context and impact of the event on the community nevertheless.

Non-religious writers: Mark Twain's book on Joan of Arc is supposed to be good. Cioran's 'Tears and Saints' looks interesting.

You can probably also find one of the many sort of 'Saint encyclopaedia' books with brief biographies and stuff. Probably ones of different topics and stuff too. Top 10 LGBT saints.

[Anonymous No.11865006]

>>11864970
>Top 10 LGBT saints

[Anonymous No.11865040]

>>11864970
>a focus on mysticism and a kind of Christ-like life of extraordinary devotion or suffering

yes I am very interested in this idea

I am not a catholic or would even call myself exactly a christian (depending on how you would define that) - but I think it's interesting, how in between Protestantism and Catholicism, one really values saints, confession and the other doesn't really seem to offer much of a clear set path for intense devotion or even a minimal idea of recommended accountability for one's sins

mostly what interests me is the idea of someone listening so closely to the voice of god, whether that can be chalked up purely to acting on their highest intentions for good, or that inspiration coming from a force outside of them (or both) - that they, like you said, live a life of extraordinary devotion and suffering, and do something really good with their lives. seeing that people have done this in the past, for real, and made a difference in the world is something I would like to expose myself to much more of

[Anonymous No.11865187]

How the fuck has nobody mentioned The Confessions. I’m done with this board desu.

[Anonymous No.11865350]

>>11864927
St Simon of Trent. His life and death serves to illustrate who the true enemies of the faith are.

[Anonymous No.11865410]

>>11864927
>I really like St Joan of Arc and seeing how her life and actions are documented as part of mainstream history

Is there any info about the companion of Joan of Arc about the man called Gilles de Rais (Marshall of the black tower)?

What did God mean by that while Joan achieved sainthood, his companion-in-arms Gilles Des Rais was murdering little children, mutilating them (sexually) among other things

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais#Medieval_serial_killer

[Anonymous No.11865490]

>>11865410
based...

[Anonymous No.11865579]

>>11864927
Despite being English, I've always liked St Joan of Arc. It might be all those hours of AOE 2 I played as a kid/

[Anonymous No.11866883]

>>11865410
La-Bas by Huysmans

[Anonymous No.11866893]

>>11864915
coolest saint

[Anonymous No.11866992]

>>11864915
>>11865040
Neat thread. I've also started reading about this recently. I find it very interesting. I just finished with pic related. It's a quick read and has an overview on about 50 different people.

[Anonymous No.11867316]

>>11865040
>seeing that people have done this in the past, for real, and made a difference in the world is something I would like to expose myself to much more of

adding more and more Tangibility to this idea, the possibility of intense devotion, to take it out of the context of merely the "stuff of legend" - I think is something very important

[Anonymous No.11867564]

>>11865410
The Saint and the Devil - Frances Winwar

Im about 3/4s through, but it has mostly been about Joan so far.

[Anonymous No.11867795]

I'll post some of the obvious to get them out of the way, right

>Golden Legend - Blessed Jacobus de Varagine
>Complete Lives of Saints - Fr. Alban Butler
>The Lives of the Saints from the Old and New Testaments - Br. Piotr Skarga
>The Synaxarium of The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church & Coptic synaxarium - Various
>Orthodox Saints: Spiritual Profiles for Modern Man Complete Set, Voll 1-4 - Fr. George Poulos

[Anonymous No.11867887]

Do you guys realize that we are all called to be saints? Reading about these people sounds like it'd be a great devotional for that reasons. The saints aren't a special breed of people, but rather just people who said "yes" to God when He spoke to them. We all have this choice every day, and that's quite interesting to think about.

Obligational works of theology by saints are obviously the Confessions, and the some of Aquinas' work. I myself need to do a lot more reading into this subject though.

Undeniably the most beautiful verse of scripture about sainthood, showcasing that the communion we have with those in the body of Christ endures beyond death, and that they are now our advocates before our father in Heaven:
Hebrews 12:1
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us"

God bless you OP and all of you here today

[Anonymous No.11867912]

>>11867887
>for that reasons
I am living proof that /lit/ is indeed a slow board in more ways than one kek

God help us to become the saints we were created to be, and to better showcase the perfected essence of man, who is Your Son Jesus Christ, the flawless lamb and fount from which every good aspect of our very humanity flows, the stainless lamb who took upon him the sin of the world. Who held each of us in mind as He went up to the cross, so that your work within each of us could come to fruition, and we may be forgiven for our rebellious ways. In Jesus' name, Amen.

[Anonymous No.11868253]

>>11864927
>>11864923
St. Jeanne best girl.
The pop culture depictions of her (WWI/II propaganda, Hollywood movies, anime heroines, coffee mugs and tumblr pics with secularized "feminist" quotes) don't do her the slightest justice. Let alone the slutty witch that the eternal-anglo bard depicts her as.

The seemingly impossible loyalty she gained from her battle weary career-soldier followers, her demanding pious temperament and insistence on Confession and Eucharist for herself and her soldiers, her charity and grace to enemy POWs, her fervent faith with God and her sometimes snarky but always steadfast understanding of theology that left the educated clergy out to condemn her at a loss, her desire to bring peace to her homeland so that she could retire from combat entirely and raise a family, the realization and struggle to accept that a dirty political system rife with sin turned on her and left her to die at the hands of cruel executioners who had to bend the established rules to even find reason to burn her, the passion of her trial and execution that 500+ years later still resonates brightly with Catholics, Protestants, and non-Christians alike.

She was an illiterate peasant girl who was granted immense qualities of leadership, military command, and political savvy and turned the course of a 100 year war despite only being active in it for less than 2 years.

Jehanne best girl.

[Anonymous No.11868263]

>>11868253
Are there any good books on her in English?

[Anonymous No.11868277]

>>11868263
Translated into english, or originally written in english?

[Anonymous No.11868286]

>>11868277
Either. Given what you mentioned (anime, secularized feminist interpretations, etc) I just want something that is either scholarly or otherwise "good" in a historical sense.

[Anonymous No.11868304]

I'm reading The Golden Legend. It contains a concise hagiography of a bunch of saints. It was written during the medieval times and its author, Jacopo de Varazze, did it to help other fellow priests during sermon. It was a wildly popular book.

[Anonymous No.11868313]

>>11868253
Why are you swallowing French propaganda and liking it? Are you literally stupid?

[Anonymous No.11868362]

>>11868286
Régine Pernoud - Joan of Arc: Her Story
Pernoud was a 14th century historian who begrudgingly agreed to write a story about Joan's nullification trial, and ended up falling in love and writing about her whole life instead (she mentions in the English translations foreward that she used to be completely indifferent to Jeanne). Because of both her trials an abnormal amount of historical information concerning Jeanne's life exists compared to many other historical figures in her time. Pernoud never tries to stray away from the divine aspects of the drama, but she also didn't write it as Catholic propaganda, she wrote it as a historian.
It also contains a fairly large appendix on topics surrounding Jeanne such as her name, her sword, plays about her life, etc. As well as short biographies about many of the principal characters surrounding her.
If you want a single book on her get that one. For what its worth it was originally written in 1986 and was told to me to be the gold standard in which contemporary Jeanne books are held too.
Not to be confused with Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses by the same author.

If you want more see >>11867564
As well as her unabridged trial transcripts by W.P. Barrett
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/joanofarc-trial.asp

>>11868313
Should have gone with Catholic propaganda instead of French

[Anonymous No.11868385]

[Anonymous No.11868471]

>>11868362
Thanks lad. Very good recommendations.

[Anonymous No.11868527]

>>11868471
np

[Anonymous No.11868563]

>>11868385
I’ve seen her disembodied head. Very cool, very holy

[Anonymous No.11868950]

[Anonymous No.11869041]

>>11864970
thank you for your thoughtful post

[Anonymous No.11869071]

>>11864927
Saint Augustine

[Anonymous No.11869077]

Saint Ignatius of Loyola is pretty good

[Anonymous No.11869153]

>>11869071
Ive only read Confessions and Christian Doctrine, but its really blowing my mind that someone 1500 years ago would have answers to things people wonder about today,.

[Anonymous No.11869160]

>>11868950
Holy FUCK that looks ACTIONPACKED!!!!!!!!

What kind of saint is THAT sexy, EMPOWERED BITCH?

[Anonymous No.11869729]

>>11869153
why would that blow your mind?

people forget things. styles change. religion is Totally Uncool nowadays so everybody assumes everything that it put forth, the opposite must be true. the *intellectuals* these days aren't investigating old *religious* literature for wisdom because they are so assured that it must all be crap

[Anonymous No.11869750]

>>11864915
Sainthood is just total obedience to God. Good books on this total obedience are On Loving God by St Bernard and Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Luc Caussade. Other good works worth looking at are The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis and the Book of Exodus.

>>11864927
St Clare of Assisi warding off an entire army of Muslim mercenaries with the Blessed Sacrament is pretty awesome desu

[Anonymous No.11869779]

it's a bit of selfindulgent french shit but still good, not as good as Salambo though

[Anonymous No.11870053]

>>11869160
the kinda saint you wanna F$%&

[Anonymous No.11871001]

[Anonymous No.11871015]

>OP pic

[Anonymous No.11871017]

>>11870053
FUCK YEAH GOD!

[Anonymous No.11871032]

>>11864915
cool party drill baby

[Anonymous No.11871044]

>>11871015
>Madoka
Joan appears in the finale of the show, and even had a spin-off manga with her as the protagonist

[Anonymous No.11871429]

[Anonymous No.11871581]

>>11864915
Read her autobiography first. It alone brought Edith Stein to the Church. It's also fascinating how she juggled her visions and ideas while the inquisition was well underway.

[Anonymous No.11871918]

>>11865579
AOE 2, yeah man. miss playing that game dearly

[Anonymous No.11873017]

Any good books on Mother Teresa, or has it been too soon for anything to come out?

[Anonymous No.11873904]

>>11873017
also wondering this

[Anonymous No.11873909]

test

[Anonymous No.11874086]

I've always liked Saint Cecilia because my mother who is dead is named after her

[Anonymous No.11874130]

I wish I could experience mystical visions of Angels desu.

[Anonymous No.11874268]

>>11874130
maybe you have to deserve it first, and not just desire it for your own purposes

and believe that its possible

[Anonymous No.11874384]

Nice ass thread that has gotten me onto some interesting reading. Thank you.

[Anonymous No.11874736]

>>11871581
thoughts on The Interior Castle?