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Spiritual Masters. The Church, thank God, has never lacked "spiritual teachers." Their recognized personal sanctity and the extraordinary fecundity of their activity are there to invite us and encourage us. They are the "Saints" who have formed generations of saints. Everyone remembers their names, but how many future priests will come into real contact with them before leaving the seminary?
How many will, through such contact, acquire a genuine spiritual climate for themselves, a taste for the things of God and a desire for interior silence, which is not deceptive and which allows them to discern falsehood in these areas? Every seminary must have a policy about this, and each seminary must give its students a habit and a taste for the great spiritual writers, the real "classics". Reading these classics does not exclude other spiritual reading, but reading these writers must be a pre-eminent activity and must remain indispensable.
(Taken from: Spiritual Formation in Seminaries, from the Congregation for Catholic Education, 1980)
Below is a list of some Spiritual Masterpieces given out as a help for students at the Seminary of Christ the King, Mission, B.C.
St Augustine, Confessions, Commentary on St John
St Benedict, Rule
St Catherine of Siena, Dialogue
St Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Treatise on the Love of God
St Francis of Assisi, The Earlier Rule, The Later Rule, Canticle to Brother Sun
St Gregory of Nyssa, Ascetical Works (On Virginity, The Christian Life, Perfection, etc.)
St Gregory the Great, Pastoral Care
St Ignatius of Antioch, Letters (and writings of the Church Fathers generally)
St lgnatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises
St John Bosco, Virtue and Christian Refinement
John Cassian, Conferences.
St John Climacus, The Ladder
John Henry Newman, The New Eve
St John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night of the Soul, Living Flame of Love
St Joseph Cafasso, The Priest the Man of God – His Dignity and His Duties
St Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary
St Maximus the Confessor, The Ascetic Life, The Four Centuries on Charity
St Teresa of Avila, Life, Way of Perfection
St Thérèse of Lisieux, Autobiographical Writings, Letters
Thomas A Kempis, Imitation of Christ
St Vincent de Paul, Spiritual Conferences
(Special thanks to the Monks at the Seminary of Christ the King, Mission, B.C. for their work and contribution in this endeavor.)
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