Wisdom of the Saints, The

Covering over two thousand years of Church history, this unique anthology presents hundreds of aphoristic sayings from the writings and recorded works of both famous and obscure saints. Ranging from the polished literary statements of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists, to the cry of the martyr on the scaffold, these quotations treat a wide variety of themes such as joy, death, faith, hope, folly, and much more. The volume
includes diary notations, lists of personal resolutions, naive remarks of saintly children who have foreseen their own destiny, and the half-legendary utterances of early miracle-working saints of Ireland
and the misty northern forests. It offers the wisdom of European, African, and Japanese saints, as well as an appendix of biographical sketches. Despite the diversity of the individuals represented--hermits and Popes, the urbane and the uncouth, the sensible and the passionately foolish--this book uncovers a degree of harmony of thought among all of the saints included here. By bringing the saints to life, this collection reminds us that they were real people--not a group of museum figures
carved in marble--with a range of temperaments and personalities.