Four New Books

Four new books have been added to Saints' Books.

The four books are the St. Vincent's Manual, which is a prayer book, a Life of St. John of the Cross, a book of Meditations for retreats by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances de Chantal, and a better copy of the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila.

Anonymous - St. Vincent's Manual

'The four ember-weeks in the year, are times of public prayer, fasting, and procession, partly instituted for the successful ordination of priests and other ministers of the Church; which is commonly performed at those seasons; and partly to thank God for the fruits of the earth and implore a continuance of them. Ember-day derives its name from the ancient religious custom of eating nothing on those days till night, and then only a cake baked under the embers, called ember-bread. The observance of ember-days is of great antiquity in the Church. Their connection with the ordination of the ministers of religion renders them particularly worthy the regard of the faithful. We cannot be too deeply impressed with the blessing granted a people, whose priests are according to God's own heart. To obtain such, no humiliation should be deemed too great; no supplication should be neglected.'

St. Francis de Sales, St. Jane Frances de Chantal - Meditations for Retreats

'BLESSED are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; cursed, therefore, are the rich in spirit, who are attached to the things of this world, for the misery of hell is their portion. You have vowed poverty. O how happy you are if you observe it faithfully, and how honored should you not regard yourself to belong, to so blessed a company! Our Lord, Our Lady, St. Joseph, were poor; love, then, this holy virtue as the dear friend of Jesus Christ, who lived and died in poverty. Reflect that to be poor means to be in need, to want many things. Behold the example of the poor and divine Jesus: "The foxes," says He, "have their dens in the forest; and the birds of the air, nests; but the Son of man has no place whereon to rest His head." O Religious! who have vowed to be poor with Jesus Christ, do you not blush with shame for wishing at all times to have your desires gratified and to want for nothing?'

David Lewis, M.A. - Life of St. John of the Cross

'The servant of our Lord was left alone in his sorrow, but sorrowing most that the next day he was neither to say nor hear Mass. But during the night that followed the day of the Assumption, our Blessed Lady herself came to the cell, radiant in the soft light of her presence, and said to him, "My son, have patience, thy trials are nearly over; thou shalt leave thy prison, say Mass, and be glad." His heart dilated with joy at the words, and he began to consider how he was to make his escape. He knew that his gaolers would not release him, and he could not deliver himself. In this perplexity, but confident that an escape was possible, he continued for a day or two, and then our Lord Himself appeared to him during the Octave, and bade him be of good cheer, for He who enabled the Prophet Eliseus to divide the waters of the Jordan with the mantle of Elias, and cross the river, would, without any difficulty, deliver him out of the hands of his tormentors.'

St. Teresa of Avila - The Life of by Herself

'Let us now return to our orchard, or flower-garden, and behold now how the trees begin to fill with sap for the bringing forth of the blossoms, and then of the fruit -- the flowers and the plants, also, their fragrance. This illustration pleases me; for very often, when I was beginning -- and our Lord grant that I have really begun to serve His Majesty -- I mean, begun in relation to what I have to say of my life, -- it was to me a great joy to consider my soul as a garden, and our Lord as walking in it. I used to beseech Him to increase the fragrance of the little flowers of virtues -- which were beginning, as it seemed to bud -- and preserve them, that they might be to His glory; for I desired nothing for myself. I prayed Him to cut those He liked, because I already knew that they would grow the better.'