Ranking Spiritual Books

[lyoncoeur]

I was talking to a friend the other day and we were on the subject of traditional or historic spiritual reading…I oftern hear it said that the two most read spiritual books are…

1. The Holy Scriptures
   and
2. My Imitation of Christ by. Thomas a Kempis

We got to wondering what might be considered the third…perhaps the writings of the early church fathers?

Any ideas…perhaps someone actually have actual data on this that I am not able to find?

 

[threej_lc]

Don’t have any data, but here’s some other extremely popular spiritual readings:

“Dark Night of the Soul” St. John of the Cross
“Interior Castle” St. Therese of Avila
“True Devotion to Mary.” Louis de Montford

 

[Fidelis]

No list of popular, influential and classic inspirational books for Catholics would be complete without:

Confessions, by St Augustine (my choice for one of the top three)
Story Of A Soul, St Therese of Lisiuex
The Little Flowers of St Francis
Divine Mercy, by St Faustina

 

[csr]

Sometime, check out Liturgy and Personality by Dietrich Von Hildebrand to explore how the liturgies of the Church influence personal development. That’s a key spiritual connection. Sadly, this title is presently out of print.

 

[Annunciata]

Fidelis:

No list of popular, influential and classic inspirational books for Catholics would be complete without:

Confessions, by St Augustine (my choice for one of the top three)
Story Of A Soul, St Therese of Lisiuex
The Little Flowers of St Francis
Divine Mercy, by St Faustina

these would also be my choice along with Thomas Aquinas’, Summa.