Reading Guides, VOLUME 12

A History of the Church in 20 Biographies [ All Saints Day ]

Today is All Saints Day, the day on the Church calendar on which we celebrate the great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us.

 

How much do you know about the history of the saints? 

 

For All Saints Day, we offer the following history of the church in twenty biographies , of one saint from each century from the first century to the twentieth century.  (It’s too early to choose a saint to celebrate from the twenty-first century.) With each we offer a brief snippet of their lives, and a biography of each, most of which can be downloaded for FREE. Many of these saints lives and work intersect with those who went before them, and what emerges as we dig into these stories is a fuller and richer history of God’s presence and work among the people of God throughout the full span of our history.

Twelfth Century:

St. Bernard of Clairvaux On Loving God

Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – 20 August 1153) was a French abbot and a major leader in the reform of Benedictine monasticism that caused the formation of the Cistercian order.

“…He was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val d’Absinthe, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) southeast of Bar-sur-Aube. According to tradition, Bernard founded the monastery on 25 June 1115, naming it Claire Vallée, which evolved into Clairvaux. There Bernard preached an immediate faith, in which the intercessor was the Virgin Mary.”   (via Wikipedia)

Bernard of Clairvaux:
The Times, the Man, and His Work

By Richard Storrs

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Thirteenth Century:

All Saints Day Biographies

Francis of Assisi

St Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco (1181/1182 – 3 October 1226), was an Italian Catholic friar, deacon and preacher. He founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.

Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228. Along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated Patron saint of Italy. He later became associated with patronage of animals and the natural environment, and it became customary for churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on or near his feast day of 4 October. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades.    (via Wikipedia)

The Life of St. Francis 
By Paul Sabatier

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