- The Imitation of Christ
- St Francis de Sales - Introduction to the Devout Life
- Lorenzo Scupoli - Spiritual Combat
- Luiz of Granada - The Sinner's Guide
- Louis de Montfort - True devotion to Mary
- St Alphonsus Liguori - anything he wrote but particularly his sermons
- Cardinal Manning - The Eternal Priesthood
- Dom Chautard - The Soul of the Apostolate
- E Escribano - The Priest at Prayer (if you can find a copy)
- The manual for students at your own seminary (or more or less any seminary in the Latin Church) from any time before 1940
(Note that the above are intended to indicate books that will help "kick-start" you on a good ascetical life in preparation for the priesthood. If you do not have a good course which covers the spiritual classics, it would be good to get a copy of Tanquerey's "The Spiritual Life" and the works of St Teresa and St John of the Cross.)
17 comments:
Thank you for this Father!
Fr Do you like your T-shirt? It's over on my blog!
Thanks for this, Father. Many I recognise, some I have; but there were some I had not thought of.
Thank you Father, that's exactly what I was hoping for! Off to Amazon I go!
-Seminarian Brian
As a seminarian, let me be the first to thank you for this post. While I have read a number of the books you mention already, the rest are well-appreciated suggestions. Thank you very, very much. (There is a certain dearth of encouragement as regards spiritual reading at the seminary I attend. Any help is always appreciated!)
I'd put Garrigou-Lagrange's Three Ages of the Spriritual Life ahead of Tanqerey, even if he does sound like very fine gin. I am pig ignorant,but having said that a) I am convinced by G-L's integration of infused contemplation b) it's been years since I read T. but I have the impression that G-L leaves you with a better objective overview. In T. one tends to lose the wood for the trees, though he has valuable "tips" that G-L doesn't, and a more devotional/subejctivo-practical tone and angle.
If 'Charles Ryder' is at odds with his seminary he is probably also at odds with the Church and I don't see much happiness for him in the future. Should he reach the priesthood I think it is inevitable that he will start blogging and join a growing band of clerical misfits. I suspect that if bishops don't read these blogs, Vicars General do and make notes accordingly. Siberia beckons.
Siberia beckons
Oh no! And I've been soooo hoping all my life for a top job and a touch of purple.
My advice to Charles Ryder is that if his seminary really doesn't give him any advice about spiritual reading, that is a very serious defect indeed and he will be thinking very much with the Church if he tries to make up for the lack.
His desire to be a good and holy priest will mean that if he is ordained, he will be happy in his priesthood wherever he is posted, including Siberia.
I'd say Mr. Ryder deserves encouragement and prayers. No seminarian I've ever encountered deserved potshots.
I'm fairly sure Charles Ryder is given good spiritual direction in his seminary. His complaint is of a dearth of encouragement of spiritual reading. Let's hope he is being taught to pray. Reading is no substitute.
Fr - why you forget Fulton J. Sheen?!
He is a great example of tradition blended with charity and humility - proper Roman Catholicism rather than the half baked stuff coming out today.
I'm fairly sure Charles Ryder is given good spiritual direction in his seminary.
Since you do not know who he is or which seminary in the world he goes to, I wonder whether you are claiming a supernatural source of information on this.
Let's hope he is being taught to pray. Reading is no substitute.
Neither he nor anyone else suggested that reading is a substitute for prayer. Nor is prayer a substitute for reading. For a seminarian, both are necessary.
Perhaps the vicars-general don't need to read clerical blogs, being able to rely on willing volunteers to inform them of what they need to know?
:-)
As I assume you know from Wonersh, spiritual direction is one of the imperatives of modern seminary formation and it is doubtful if it is neglected throughout the Church. Most seminaries have misfits and their angularity is often disclosed most fully within the context of spiritual direction. If you are doubtful about this ask Fr Woodgate. I think there is something wrong about seminarians who manifest their dissatisfaction on blogs. Presumably you don't know him either and it does not take supernatural powers to spot oddities.
Anon - sorry but I have not found anything in the commenter to suggest that he is necessarily an oddball.
Of course you are right that seminaries sometimes have "oddballs" etc. The process of discernment favours helping people first to knock off the sharp corners if possible.
I have mentioned before the excellent quality of spiritual teaching at Wonersh but that is not necessarily universal at seminaries throughout the world.
What? No Marmion? I find his writings especially suitable as they so explicitly make the very necessary connections between the academic and spiritual lives.
1: Well we all have our "favourites", but can I recommend "The Crucible of Love - A Study in the Mysticism of St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross" by E W Trueman-Dicken. It is the best and most comprehensive study of Teresa and John that I have read and has the great merit on insisting on the necessity of asceticism (humility, detachment, charity etc) as a precondition of growth in prayer, whilst at the same time emphasising that the true end of the ascetical life is contemplation and (ultimately) union with God. Trueman-Dicken is an Anglican, but this need not concern anyone. His exposition is straight down the line and knocks into a cocked hat some of the more modern attempts to interpret Teresa and John along Freudian or Jungian lines.
2: I agree with Berenike that Garrigou-Lagrange is better than Tanquerey, even though neither is exactly for the faint-hearted. The problem with Tanquerey is the lack of a synthetic overview and the identification of the onset of infused contemplation with the Unitive Way, which tends to make it sound something exotic and out of the reach of most people, and is in clear contradiction to what the Carmelites say.
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