Set Your Heart Free by Francis de Sales offers readers the same spiritual wisdom, encouragement, and spellbinding insights that once drew people from all over Europe to this saint's door. Drawn from Francis's immensely popular writings, this prayer resource for individuals or groups emboldens readers to encounter God and pray in their own unique way. Each book in the Great Spiritual Teachers series provides a month of daily readings from one of Christianity's most beloved spiritual guides. For each day there is a brief and accessible morning meditation drawn from the mystic's writings, a simple mantra for use throughout the day, and a night prayer to focus one's thoughts as the day ends. These easy-to-use books are the perfect prayer companion for busy people who want to root their spiritual practice in the solid ground of these great spiritual teachers.

Written over 400 years ago, Introduction to the Devout Life is still one of the most popular books for those pursuing holiness. St. Francis de Sales explains how to turn that desire for sanctity into resolutions that yield grace-filled results. Themes include: Pursuing a devout life whole-heartedly Incorporating prayer and sacraments into a busy schedule Growing in virtue Battling wisely against temptation Making spiritual progress through daily, monthly, and yearly exercises Whether you are just beginning your spiritual journey or are more advanced in the spiritual life, you’ll be able to apply this timeless wisdom immediately. Let St. Francis de Sales illumine the path to holiness and strengthen your desire to walk that road with the Lord. St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622) was the Bishop of Geneva and a renowned spiritual director. Preaching during the Counter-Reformation, he is estimated to have converted 70,000 Calvinists in his short lifetime. He was a fervent proponent of the universal call to holiness and spent much of his time guiding lay people on the road to sanctity. Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1877, St. Francis is still helping to form saints through his many writings, of which Introduction to the Devout Life is the most famous.

THE SPIRIT OF a Saint we may, perhaps, regard as the underlying characteristic which pervades all his thoughts, words, and acts. It is the note which sounds throughout the constant persevering harmony which makes the holiness of his life. Circumstances change. He grows from childhood to boyhood; from youth to manhood. His time of preparation is unnoticed by the world until the moment comes when he is called to a public activity which arrests attention. And essentially he remains the same. In private as in public, in intimate conversation as in writings or discourses, in the direction of individual consciences as in the conduct of matters of wide importance, there is a characteristic note which identifies him, and marks him off apart even from other heroes of sanctity. Aeterna Press

The most in-depth and scholarly panorama of Western spirituality ever attempted!In one series, the original writings of the universally acknowledged teachers of the Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish, Islamic and Native American traditions have been critically selected, translated and introduced by internationally recognized scholars and spiritual leaders.The texts are first-rate, and the introductions are informative and reliable. The books will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of every literate religious persons". -- The Christian Century Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

"We now have a good English version of another saint's - Francis de Sales' - chats about God and divine things, 'The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales', by his friend, Jean Pierre Camus, Bishop of Belley. (Translated by J. S. With a Preface by his Grace the Archbishop of Westminster. These are the spontaneous utterances of a saint remarkable for ready and perfect expression of thought. He was a born persuader of men, and his sanctification by the Holy Ghost elevated this native gift into a regenerative force seldom equaled. No one could be long in his company without being sanctified. It is fortunate for the generations which have followed him that Jean Pierre Camus, an intimate friend as well as a devoted disciple, happened also to be a facile and graphic writer. He constantly sought opportunities to put on paper the conversational wisdom of the saint. These precious sweepings of the goldsmith's shop he called 'The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales,' and he has given us a peculiarly charming and wonderfully edifying volume of colloquial spirituality." -Catholic World "Surely this is a book to be grateful for. It is a blessed thing to become intimately acquainted with any saint, and to be able to imbibe his spirit, even in small degree, but he is thrice blest who gets close to St. Francis de Sales. This is made possible now because of the appearance of this fuller work, which takes the place of a brief abridgement, which was all that we had heretofore." -The American Catholic Quarterly "We are indebted for a most interesting work, 'The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales,' which, more than any other, develops the private excellences of the saint....Humility and zeal were the two prominent virtues by which he was distinguished; the former taught him to forget himself, the latter to be ever mindful of the wants of others." -The Supplement to the Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge "We owe to a keen and close observer a knowledge of the spirit of St. Francis de Sales for which we cannot be too grateful. Let it be granted that Mgr. Camus had a very prolific imagination; that he had an unconscious tendency to embroider facts; that he read a meaning into words which their speaker had no thought of imparting to them. When all such allowances have been made, we must still admit that he has given to us a picture of the Saint which we should be loath to lose; and that his description of what the Saint habitually thought and felt has made Saint Francis de Sales a close personal friend to many to whom otherwise he would have remained a mere chance acquaintance." -Francis, Archbishop of Westminster