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Vidas dos Santos: Para todos os dias do ano
O livro Vidas dos Santos é um compilado de mais de 400 histórias de santidade escritas por Alban Butler — um renomado sacerdote e autor inglês — para se inspirar todos os dias do ano. Além disso, cada uma dessas biografias também conta com uma pequena reflexão. Assim, com poucos minutos por dia, você terá a oportunidade de conhecer histórias de santos e levar seus exemplos como aprendizados para a vida.
531 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1750
1046 people are currently reading
1434 people want to read
About the author
Alban Butler
506 books15 followersAlban Butler was an English Roman Catholic priest and hagiographer.
Butler's great work, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints ("Butler's Lives"), the result of thirty years study, was first published in four volumes in London, 1756–1759. It is a popular and compendious reproduction of the Acta Sanctorum, exhibiting great industry and research, and is in all respects the best compendium of Acta in English. Butler's magnum opus has passed many editions and translations.
Butler's great work, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints ("Butler's Lives"), the result of thirty years study, was first published in four volumes in London, 1756–1759. It is a popular and compendious reproduction of the Acta Sanctorum, exhibiting great industry and research, and is in all respects the best compendium of Acta in English. Butler's magnum opus has passed many editions and translations.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
January 1, 2021
This book is a daily devotional. (The author, Father Alban Butler, was born in England in 1710 and the copy I have is not written in American English.) The traditional stories of these Roman Catholic Saints are presented on their feast days 1January through
31 December. I have read this book, in my Kindle, for many years. I am able to highlight and make notes on those passages that speak to my soul an change highlights and add to current notes or create new ones as read about that life a year later. I purchased this in the spring of 2011 when I was a Protestant possibly interested in becoming a Catholic Christian. The lives of these men and began to have a very positive effect on my life. Each year that I read this devotional, I found my self meditating on various saints lives and trying to find out more about them.
Some Saints suffered the horrendous torture that evil men contrived to attempt to get them to renounce their faith and worship idols. Often abused to the point of death the were thrown back into the prison and then given the same treatment again often ending their life by execution. They were martyrs for Christ and are now in heaven praying for us.
There were also those Saints who lived very holy and virtuous lives. The lived humbly and gave all that had to the poor and often were themselves suffering ailments and disabilities. These Christians were missionaries to the pagans who lived in what is now modern Europe, they founded churches, monasteries and convents, and performed miracles. Thousands were converted to the Catholic faith because these Saints lived like the Christ they taught about. Some of the converts became priests, bishops and nuns.
Reading about these Saints began to teach me about the purpose of suffering. I learned that suffering with the joy of the Lord makes your faith in God stronger and you become a Christ like example to others. Practicing such faith and not complaining is a righteous goal!
So what did do with all this new found knowledge...? It only took me about six years to make my journey to Catholicism and this book was one of the first paths that I embarked upon.
31 December. I have read this book, in my Kindle, for many years. I am able to highlight and make notes on those passages that speak to my soul an change highlights and add to current notes or create new ones as read about that life a year later. I purchased this in the spring of 2011 when I was a Protestant possibly interested in becoming a Catholic Christian. The lives of these men and began to have a very positive effect on my life. Each year that I read this devotional, I found my self meditating on various saints lives and trying to find out more about them.
Some Saints suffered the horrendous torture that evil men contrived to attempt to get them to renounce their faith and worship idols. Often abused to the point of death the were thrown back into the prison and then given the same treatment again often ending their life by execution. They were martyrs for Christ and are now in heaven praying for us.
There were also those Saints who lived very holy and virtuous lives. The lived humbly and gave all that had to the poor and often were themselves suffering ailments and disabilities. These Christians were missionaries to the pagans who lived in what is now modern Europe, they founded churches, monasteries and convents, and performed miracles. Thousands were converted to the Catholic faith because these Saints lived like the Christ they taught about. Some of the converts became priests, bishops and nuns.
Reading about these Saints began to teach me about the purpose of suffering. I learned that suffering with the joy of the Lord makes your faith in God stronger and you become a Christ like example to others. Practicing such faith and not complaining is a righteous goal!
So what did do with all this new found knowledge...? It only took me about six years to make my journey to Catholicism and this book was one of the first paths that I embarked upon.
January 1, 2023
I have tried to read the saints for each day on their days. I got off track a few times because when the author really likes a particular holy person he gives that person a very long vita, complete with a description of their ancestry, upbringing, vocation, extraordinary deeds of virtue, and edifying death. There are summaries of his (and sometimes her) major writings, miracles wrought by means of the saint's relics and an exhortation to imitate his or her virtues.
And the endnotes, did I mention them? Numbering nearly 5400, they put the copious and quirky footnotes of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell completely in the shade. The publishers of this work forced Fr. Butler to prune the fruits of his erudition, which I thought was a shame when I first read it. But having completed the book, I understand their point of view more than I did at first.
You have to admire the raw courage of the martyrs and confessors who defied the persecutors to their faces, but it must have taken enormous resolve not to back down under such horrendous tortures.
And the endnotes, did I mention them? Numbering nearly 5400, they put the copious and quirky footnotes of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell completely in the shade. The publishers of this work forced Fr. Butler to prune the fruits of his erudition, which I thought was a shame when I first read it. But having completed the book, I understand their point of view more than I did at first.
You have to admire the raw courage of the martyrs and confessors who defied the persecutors to their faces, but it must have taken enormous resolve not to back down under such horrendous tortures.
July 5, 2022
I tried, I really did, but I will stop reading it for now. I feel like I've read the same story a hundred times now, and I'm about halfway of the book. Christ is Great, but I guess christianity is not for me. It's not like there's not a lot of admirable saints, so there's definitely a lot to learn from them, but I feel like a religion that cares this much about formal aspects to the point of having to "convert" people, can't be the best way of finding the Truth.
Well, sorry about that, but unless you're getting the book for research purposes or looking for the story of some specific saints, save your time and get most of the information this book has to offer by reading this:
- Christian good goes to pagan bad country to make savage people understand they were wrong all along the course of their history and they need to become civilized christian good to not go to hell like their ancestors, and they need to let the church rule their country too. Surprisingly, christian good killed by pagan bad;
- Pagan bad persecute christian good, christian good tortured by fire but doesn't get hurt, christian good killed;
- Pagan country bad persecuting christian good, christian good doesn't need pagan bad to torture him because he does it himself, so christian good goes to the desert;
- Good christian woman wants to serve God, but pagan bad forces her to get married. Only way pf christian good woman getting rid of suffering is to suffer more, but by her own hands;
- "Oh, God, being tortured and dying is so good, please, more!"
Well, sorry about that, but unless you're getting the book for research purposes or looking for the story of some specific saints, save your time and get most of the information this book has to offer by reading this:
- Christian good goes to pagan bad country to make savage people understand they were wrong all along the course of their history and they need to become civilized christian good to not go to hell like their ancestors, and they need to let the church rule their country too. Surprisingly, christian good killed by pagan bad;
- Pagan bad persecute christian good, christian good tortured by fire but doesn't get hurt, christian good killed;
- Pagan country bad persecuting christian good, christian good doesn't need pagan bad to torture him because he does it himself, so christian good goes to the desert;
- Good christian woman wants to serve God, but pagan bad forces her to get married. Only way pf christian good woman getting rid of suffering is to suffer more, but by her own hands;
- "Oh, God, being tortured and dying is so good, please, more!"
December 31, 2022
This is one to keep out and reread every year. Every day of the year has a saint, and sometimes more than one, to read about for inspiration. Who doesn't want to be introduced to more saints in order to ask them to pray for us?
September 7, 2018
For several months from January 1, I was reading one saint a day. I put it aside when I went out of town in April and never got back to it. It is now officially in the unfinished pile, though I may get back to it someday. I found most of the saints, especially the martyrs, depressing, not inspiring and somewhat akin to the religious radicals of today.
December 31, 2019
Enlightening and fruitful for all the days of the year.
Read
September 29, 2012this volume of 4 books are the most treasured in my library after the Holy Bible..i have been reading/studying/admiring these writings everyday since 1983...check out todays minor entry of Saint theodota...what a faithful/strong woman...a true friend to Jesus..major feast of the Archangels/St. Michael as the leader...let us remember to pray the St. Michael prayer everyday, written by Pope St. Leo XIII after the horrifying vision after Holy Mass (Mysterium)...particularly interesting is that time period in England under the reprobate King Henry VIII ...when so many Catholic-Christians were legally murdered/hung,drawn, and quartered/decapitated, etc....simply because they would not attend Protestant services or deny that the POPE is the head, the ROCk of the original Christian church...and still well, alive and BRAVE after approx 1,979 years after the Crucifixtion of the Messiah...why was Jesus crucified other than to atone for our sins/Precious Lamb of God..when was it decided that he should be murdered???after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead...jealousy/Envy one of the 7 capital sins woven with the leader of all 7 sins...PRIDE/stinking pride who puts itself above the Creator and says "i will not kneel for baby Jesus asleep in the hay of a manger...who says "i will not obey the Commandments of God given thru Moses...it says..i will write my own laws and do whatever i want""...until Judgment Day...until Parousia..then it will be too late ..you will see below what you have chosen...9 miles down...and no getting up...ask Salvador Dali about his painting of HELL as revealed by the blessed and BRAVE Fatima children..whereas the "adults" who persecuted them were cowards/liars...Butler,s hagiography is a priceless treasure that is deliberately kept out of American public schools...i'm sure i would have joined the Church much sooner if i was given the KNOWLEDGE contained in Lives of the Saints
January 17, 2025
Sometimes I feel that I missed out on a lot of integral aspects of a Catholic upbringing. I don't think having experienced those things would have made me believe in a god now, as an adult, but they might have sparked the imagination in certain ways. I've always had some affection for St. Martin, the saint I chose for my confirmation name because of the warrior mouse Martin in the Redwall books (who must be based on Martin, a warrior who became a monk). But I never got really into the stories of saints, despite having a copy of Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, a gift from my grandmother to my brother, in my room while growing up.
When I started reading this edition of The Lives of the Saints a year ago, I was interested in the concept of saints as heroes put forward (but not explored) by Simon Yarrow in his Saints: A Very Short Introduction . That developed into an understanding of martyrs especially as the useful dead - people to whom ideas and ideals can be attached, whose lives can be smoothed out and streamlined to help support a narrative. The Lives of the Saints was going to be data for that hypothesis, and boy does it kind of deliver on that front. Earlier saints, before Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire and Europe in the centuries following, could be individuals effectively resisting coercion and persecution; Christians in the first few centuries of their existence were often scapegoats for the failures of the ruling class like immigrants and other minority groups are now. As soon as Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire, ever single martyr is someone who sought out danger and got themselves killed. Some seem to have invented their own persecution (e.g., anchorites and other recluses), others went on 'converting' (i.e., colonizing) missions in non-Christian countries and antagonized the powerful there. If you don't believe in a soul or an afterlife, there is simply nothing there to respect for many of them. But if you want people to conform to a certain specific way of life, showing them examples of saints who have decided to reject their true selves in favour of mortification and isolation might tell a child "resisting sin is actually more holy than being true to yourself".
The problem with this edition is that, despite the claims on the cover, I don't think it is the work of Alban Butler. When I went home last December, I compared some entries in this edition to the illustrated, hardback edition my grandmother gifted to my brother, and those have much longer and more interesting versions of the stories, while those in this version are resented rather flatly. I think a better edition of Butler - and I know that his original text was enormous - would at least have entertained on the level of prose. This version, I fear, is mainly useful as raw data.
When I started reading this edition of The Lives of the Saints a year ago, I was interested in the concept of saints as heroes put forward (but not explored) by Simon Yarrow in his Saints: A Very Short Introduction . That developed into an understanding of martyrs especially as the useful dead - people to whom ideas and ideals can be attached, whose lives can be smoothed out and streamlined to help support a narrative. The Lives of the Saints was going to be data for that hypothesis, and boy does it kind of deliver on that front. Earlier saints, before Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire and Europe in the centuries following, could be individuals effectively resisting coercion and persecution; Christians in the first few centuries of their existence were often scapegoats for the failures of the ruling class like immigrants and other minority groups are now. As soon as Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire, ever single martyr is someone who sought out danger and got themselves killed. Some seem to have invented their own persecution (e.g., anchorites and other recluses), others went on 'converting' (i.e., colonizing) missions in non-Christian countries and antagonized the powerful there. If you don't believe in a soul or an afterlife, there is simply nothing there to respect for many of them. But if you want people to conform to a certain specific way of life, showing them examples of saints who have decided to reject their true selves in favour of mortification and isolation might tell a child "resisting sin is actually more holy than being true to yourself".
The problem with this edition is that, despite the claims on the cover, I don't think it is the work of Alban Butler. When I went home last December, I compared some entries in this edition to the illustrated, hardback edition my grandmother gifted to my brother, and those have much longer and more interesting versions of the stories, while those in this version are resented rather flatly. I think a better edition of Butler - and I know that his original text was enormous - would at least have entertained on the level of prose. This version, I fear, is mainly useful as raw data.
November 22, 2019
Fr. Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints provides believers with saints that are spread over the Roman Catholic Church’s liturgical year. Each entry is approximately one page long and is complimented with a reflection on a particular saint. Fr. Butler’s work spans a career of over 30 years of meticulous research on the Lives of the Saints. This edition was originally published in the 1750s. Since then the text has been updated to include saints who have been canonized by the Catholic Church after that period. These were martyrs, confessors, virgins, popes, and bishops.
The introduction to this book lists and describes a number of movable feast days in the Church’s calendar like Advent, Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Easter Sunday, and Christ the King among others. But the overall benefit of this devotional to Roman Catholics is the value of all the virtuous lessons that the saints have to teach. Daily a catholic can be guided by the teachings of a saint for that day.
The introduction to this book lists and describes a number of movable feast days in the Church’s calendar like Advent, Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Easter Sunday, and Christ the King among others. But the overall benefit of this devotional to Roman Catholics is the value of all the virtuous lessons that the saints have to teach. Daily a catholic can be guided by the teachings of a saint for that day.
December 31, 2021
This book is exactly what it states it is. Each day, it tells a little of the life of a saint in the Catholic faith. I do wish that some of the descriptions made the saints seem more individual, or talked of how they were made saints. Overall, though, it details several saints in a way that allows for daily reading and reflection.
December 30, 2022
It is to your own self that the reading of this book shall benefit for to read and study these 'll I've
Read it and learn. Read it and grow. Read this book and be blessed . Each day of the year will draw you closer to God.
Read it and learn. Read it and grow. Read this book and be blessed . Each day of the year will draw you closer to God.
December 30, 2025
A wonderful collection of brief Saint biographies. It is truly inspirational how many faithful people have died witnessing their faith and incredible how many “normal people” can do extraordinary things in the name of the Lord.
March 14, 2017
Very Catholic but good history.
April 14, 2018
A great read
I haven't read this since my days in Catholic School, Mother Superior made it required reading. God Bless Her. It's kind of dry reading but, well worth it.
I haven't read this since my days in Catholic School, Mother Superior made it required reading. God Bless Her. It's kind of dry reading but, well worth it.
Read
July 15, 2019This is a reference book. Never really done with it
January 1, 2020
A reflective piece on the lives and miracles of the Saints that correspond to each day.
August 4, 2020
This book is quite concise and with well researched articles.
September 20, 2020
Intriguing as a historical document; not sure how useful this is devotionally relative to something else. Only made it about halfway through but I think that's enough for now.
April 24, 2023
Preferred the format of "Saints: Becoming An Image Of Christ Every Day Of The Year".
January 1, 2024
Part of my daily prayer routine.
July 31, 2024
This book highlights the life of a different saint every day. It is inspirational and some thing I look forward to every morning. Having beautiful examples to live by motivates me spiritually.
August 3, 2024
Lovely stories
October 31, 2024
fun book to learn about the saints. definitely one I'd recommend.
January 18, 2021
Simply a great book that will help your soul more inhabit in you as a saint's. The book is a great stalwart teacher in aid to becoming more and more what the Lord sees capable in us and of us. Butler's Lives of the Saints is written in a very direct manner, and the words allow the great expanse of God to accompany you as you live and strive to be like one of these plain heroes. It can show the vibrancy and wonder of the Lord's miracles and also the simplicity of devotion to Him, the Almighty. There's no way that reading this book and making it an accompaniment to your life will not help you.
January 12, 2023
It took me too long to get around to reading this book, some dozen years since it had been given to me for my 18th birthday, but I finally made it my goal to read through it in 2022. Reading about a saint each day (most days) made it manageable and exposed me to saints I had known about by name only or never even heard of. It is an older book, though, so sometimes the language used was a bit different than what I am used to, and it is also old enough that some saints' feast days have been moved or other newer saints have superseded the older saints. Still, it does show the great variety of saints and the many varied ways they lived their lives.
August 23, 2016
Butler's "Lives of the Saints" is without doubt the most highly rated collection of the stories of the Saints in the English language. Written in the early 19th Century by Alban Butler, and English convert to Catholicism, this twelve volume collection was a collection of the stories of the lives of all the Saints that existed at that time. The collection is organized by date, so that the reader can read the lives of all of the saints whose feast days fall upon that particular day. This makes this collection easy to use for those who want to deepen their devotion to the Saints. It also treats the entire history of the Church through the eyes of the Saints. When a reader completes all of the articles, he or she has a very good grasp, not just of hagiography, but also of Church history.
Unfortunately in the 21st Century there are obvious problems with this work. For one thing, this work does not treat of any saint who was beatified or canonized since the early 19th Century. But considering that 20th Century Popes have created more Saints than the Popes of all previous centuries combined, this work is desperately in need of updating. The need for updating is further exacerbated by the fact that the Church reformed the liturgical calendar after Vatican II, so that the dates associated with many saints are different today than they were in Butler's time. Secondly, the work suffers from an issue that plagues many 19th Century English spiritual works. It is very sentimental and sappy. Butler has issues with the names of people and places. In some places he refers to the Bishop of Hippo as St. Augustine, but in most places he refers to him as St. Austin. He confounds St. Benedict with St. Bennet. And he uses three different names for St. Canute in the article about him. Butler goes off on enormous tangents in his descriptions, often spending dozens of pages describing a war, a political situation or a heresy that happened during the life of the saint without really affecting the saint directly. These are minor, quirky things, but they make this work difficult for the modern reader.
The bottom line here is that this work is a must for Catholics who want to deepen their devotion to the saints. And in the 21st Century, using this work is easier than ever. It is available on the Kindle, all 12 volumes for only a couple of dollars. No longer does one have to lug around the heavy tomes of this work in order to include Butler's work in one's daily devotions. The volumes are available on GoogleBooks and archive.org for free in PDF versions. I would recommend that every English speaking Catholic acquire these volumes and read them. And it would be even more awesome if someone were to update this work for the 21st Century!
Unfortunately in the 21st Century there are obvious problems with this work. For one thing, this work does not treat of any saint who was beatified or canonized since the early 19th Century. But considering that 20th Century Popes have created more Saints than the Popes of all previous centuries combined, this work is desperately in need of updating. The need for updating is further exacerbated by the fact that the Church reformed the liturgical calendar after Vatican II, so that the dates associated with many saints are different today than they were in Butler's time. Secondly, the work suffers from an issue that plagues many 19th Century English spiritual works. It is very sentimental and sappy. Butler has issues with the names of people and places. In some places he refers to the Bishop of Hippo as St. Augustine, but in most places he refers to him as St. Austin. He confounds St. Benedict with St. Bennet. And he uses three different names for St. Canute in the article about him. Butler goes off on enormous tangents in his descriptions, often spending dozens of pages describing a war, a political situation or a heresy that happened during the life of the saint without really affecting the saint directly. These are minor, quirky things, but they make this work difficult for the modern reader.
The bottom line here is that this work is a must for Catholics who want to deepen their devotion to the saints. And in the 21st Century, using this work is easier than ever. It is available on the Kindle, all 12 volumes for only a couple of dollars. No longer does one have to lug around the heavy tomes of this work in order to include Butler's work in one's daily devotions. The volumes are available on GoogleBooks and archive.org for free in PDF versions. I would recommend that every English speaking Catholic acquire these volumes and read them. And it would be even more awesome if someone were to update this work for the 21st Century!
May 8, 2016
What an amazing Journey in my reading of “Lives of the Saints” by Alban Butler; treasures I will hold in my heart for many years to come teaching me so much about the paved path before me.
I was taken by one story; the story of Alban; a man who came to know Christ by the praises of a fugitive; a story that made the words of 2 Samuel 22:50 come to life proving yet again the power of Gods word!
I love what Alban said after a flogging "I worship and adore the true and living God, who created all things!"
This amazing set of literature gives light to the lovely life of faith that has been paved by amazing men and women such as Alban and the countless others just like him!
“Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore in that day I am the one who is speaking, 'Here I am.'" How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, They shout joyfully together; For they will see with their own eyes When the LORD restores Zion. Isaiah 52:6-8
Thank you Lord Jesus for paving my path by the faithful!
I was taken by one story; the story of Alban; a man who came to know Christ by the praises of a fugitive; a story that made the words of 2 Samuel 22:50 come to life proving yet again the power of Gods word!
I love what Alban said after a flogging "I worship and adore the true and living God, who created all things!"
This amazing set of literature gives light to the lovely life of faith that has been paved by amazing men and women such as Alban and the countless others just like him!
“Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore in that day I am the one who is speaking, 'Here I am.'" How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, They shout joyfully together; For they will see with their own eyes When the LORD restores Zion. Isaiah 52:6-8
Thank you Lord Jesus for paving my path by the faithful!
October 2, 2012
Father Butler's Lives of the Saints is an amazing book of devotion, arranged to follow the Catholic Church's calendar of feast days, and so is relevant every day of the year. I enjoyed reading and learning about the daily saints, Doctors, and martyrs of the Church in concise, well-written, prose.
I highly recommend using Lives of the Saints as part of a daily regimen to deepen one's faith by way of being introduced to inspiring examples of faith.
The book, first published in the nineteenth century, also serves as a valuable introduction the early history of the Catholic Church and the fundamental (and sacrificial) roles some of the founders of the church played to ensure the continuation and development of the Church into modern times.
Having read through the book once, I now look forward to being reacquainted with each new day's Saint.
Caveat: I now see that there are different editions of Butler's Lives of the Saints. I must admit that my review is based on the on-line version, so I cannot vouch for this particular edition.
I highly recommend using Lives of the Saints as part of a daily regimen to deepen one's faith by way of being introduced to inspiring examples of faith.
The book, first published in the nineteenth century, also serves as a valuable introduction the early history of the Catholic Church and the fundamental (and sacrificial) roles some of the founders of the church played to ensure the continuation and development of the Church into modern times.
Having read through the book once, I now look forward to being reacquainted with each new day's Saint.
Caveat: I now see that there are different editions of Butler's Lives of the Saints. I must admit that my review is based on the on-line version, so I cannot vouch for this particular edition.
October 19, 2009
Okay, this is not actually the copy I am reading. My friend Paula gave me her mother's copy of "Lives of Saints" which is big, thick and really gruesome. Here's my favorite quote:
"The record of the Passion of St. Perpetua, St. Feliciitas, and their Companions is one the the great treasures of martyr literature...."
The book is on the coffee table, and I read one or two histories at a sitting. I am noticing many virgin martyrs, which counts many of us out. The same does not seem to apply to men, which give you an idea of how long this whole double standard thing has been in place (St. Perpetua died in 203).
I can't really recommend this book, but suggest you give it a look when I see you all at the holidays!
"The record of the Passion of St. Perpetua, St. Feliciitas, and their Companions is one the the great treasures of martyr literature...."
The book is on the coffee table, and I read one or two histories at a sitting. I am noticing many virgin martyrs, which counts many of us out. The same does not seem to apply to men, which give you an idea of how long this whole double standard thing has been in place (St. Perpetua died in 203).
I can't really recommend this book, but suggest you give it a look when I see you all at the holidays!
December 31, 2025
Fascinating historical subject matter, short punchy biographies and deep reflections for each day of the year. The author lived in the mid 1700s and yet the update with saints added since then has not sacrificed the author’s original elegant style in the new entries. Although I read this as a complete book, it would be worth reading again as a day-by-day devotional, as it was intended.
Much of this history is forgotten or glossed over in current, mostly secular thinking. It’s not a simple or mild subject matter - many of these saints experienced terrible privations, and the accounts of the horrible tortures experienced by the martyrs is harrowing. People should take note that such martyrdom is happening around the world even today.
Much of this history is forgotten or glossed over in current, mostly secular thinking. It’s not a simple or mild subject matter - many of these saints experienced terrible privations, and the accounts of the horrible tortures experienced by the martyrs is harrowing. People should take note that such martyrdom is happening around the world even today.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews