Roses Among Thorns: Simple Advice for Renewing Your Spiritual Journey - Softcover

From the thousands of personal letters by St. Francis de Sales comes this short, practical guide that will develop in you the soul-nourishing habits that lead to sanctity.

St. Francis de Sales is widely regarded as one of the greatest spiritual advisors in the history of the Church, and we have drawn from his letters the wisest advice for those prepared to take the next step on their spiritual journey.

As he did for saints and sinners in his own time, St. Francis de Sales will stiffen your resolve, help you gain small victories over unruly passions, and restore in you a trusting confidence in Jesus Christ. Soon you'll find yourself delivered from the chains of self-love as your soul opens to divine goodness and your heart shaped into a fitting place for Christ to dwell and reign eternally.

If you find it difficult to live amid the clamor of the world with your eyes fixed on Christ alone, let St. Francis de Sales teach you how to live as a true rose among thorns as you learn . . .

Absorb the wisdom in these holy pages, and you'll soon make true progress on your spiritual journey and navigate with confidence the treacherous waters of our secular world.

St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622), bishop, Doctor of the Church, and patron of writers, was ordained a priest in 1593. He reconverted the inhabitants of Chablais from Calvinism. He was elected bishop of Geneva in 1602. With Jane Frances Frémyot, Baroness de Chantal, St. Francis founded the Visitation of Holy Mary in Annecy in Savoy. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Lyons, France, on December 28, 1622. St. Francis de Sales was canonized in 1665.

Christopher O. Blum is Professor of History & Philosophy and Academic Dean of the Augustine Institute. Dr. Blum teaches courses in philosophy and on the history of evangelization and Catholic culture. He has made a special study of the intellectual virtues as understood by the Catholic tradition, with particular reference to the moral dispositions, practices, and institutional forms that conduce to the attainment of wisdom. Dr. Blum and his wife Kathleen and their two children live in Littleton, Colorado.