Searching for a specific book on Christian life

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JoyToTheWhirled

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Some time ago I was made aware of a book by a saint that was considered a great grounding in Catholic daily life and piety, but I can’t remember the title of the book or the saint! I seem to remember it being the result of letters that the saint wrote to a woman encouraging her in her faith. Can anyone help me identify the book from the little information I have recalled?
 
JoyToTheWhirled said:
Some time ago I was made aware of a book by a saint that was considered a great grounding in Catholic daily life and piety, but I can’t remember the title of the book or the saint! I seem to remember it being the result of letters that the saint wrote to a woman encouraging her in her faith. Can anyone help me identify the book from the little information I have recalled?
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Joy, are you perhaps thinking of Abandonment to Divine Providence, by Jean-Pierre de Caussade? He was a Jesuit priest and hasn’t been sainted, but his book was unintentionally written, being originally a series of letters. In any case, it’s a wonderful book. If you decide to seek it out, you very definitely want to get this translation, as it’s vastly superior to the other English editions. Also, the Image Books / Doubleday one from a few years ago has a great painting on the cover by Jean Antoine Watteau, titled Landscape with Waterfall. It’s the same paperback linked to above, but it had a better cover a few years ago, which you could probably find pretty easily. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the John Beevers translation ever came out in hardcover, unfortunately.
 
There are a number of books. I recommend the Imitation of Christ.
 
poche said:
There are a number of books. I recommend the Imitation of Christ.
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She probably meant the Francis de Sales book, but that one always reminds me of de Caussade’s book, because both of them were originally letters meant to help specific people. Plus, I like the idea that there are these great books that were unintentionally written. And then there are cases where great books were lost forever in this very same way. I’m thinking of Thérèse of Lisieux’s letters to Father Pichon, which might well have been one of the crown jewels of Christendom, but which were actually thrown away. Reading the backstory of what happened there is heartbreaking…
 
Thank you all for replying. I am pretty sure it was Introduction to the Devout Life, but every post here has been helpful.
 
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