Luis de Granada (1505–1588)

I don't believe there is any follower of the Christian faith who wouldn't benefit from reading this classic of spiritual direction written by the Venerable Louis of Granada.

For the beginner and layman it provides a very useful overview of the Christian life rooted in the practice of virtue. For the proficient and the advanced, I think it serves as a good reminder of the basics of our faith and reminds them of the need for humility and simplicity.

The structure of the book is very systematic, and the prose I found easy to read. I'm not sure if the Aeterna Press version is a direct translation - if it is, it's amazing how easy this is to read for a 400 year old book. I really enjoyed reading this book.

Firstly, Ven. Louis lays out some motives which 'oblige' us to practice virtue and serve God. He then goes on to expound upon the privileges of virtue and the folly of those who continue in sin. Next, he takes the seven deadly sins and gives some advice as to remedies for each of these. Finally he talks about our threefold obligation to virtue - the obligation to God, to ourselves and to our neighbour.

As for the author, Jordan Aumann O.P. wrote that "Louis of Granada stands without a peer among Dominican ascetical writers, and throughout the seventeenth century his writings were a constant source of inspiration and education for Christians throughout the civilized world. He reached his maturity during the Council of Trent and at the high point of the Golden Age of Spain. He died in 1588, when the imperial supremacy of Spain was beginning to wane.

Both as a preacher and a writer, Fray Louis dedicated himself assiduously to the indoctrination and spiritual formation of the common people. A contemporary writer stated: "Water girls carried his books under their arms and the market women read them as they waited to sell their merchandise." But another contemporary said of him with disdain that he wrote for the "wives of carpenters," forgetting, perhaps, that the wife of a carpenter was the Mother of God and the Queen of angels and saints.

Long before St. Francis de Sales appeared on the scene, Louis of Granada was preaching the traditional, orthodox doctrine of the universal vocation of all Christians to the perfection of charity. He was a theologian for the laity, but in addition to the rank-and-file Christians, the books of Fray Louis were read with great profit by some of the great saints of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. We mention only the following: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Peter Alcántara, St. Rose of Lima, St. Francis de Sales and St. Louise de Marillac."

Says it all really.… (mehr)