A translation of the biography written by Pope Gregory the Great, this official biography is also known as the Second Book of Dialogues. It is the earliest and thus the most valuable biography of St. Benedict.

Saint Benedict's life is shrouded in mystery. Disturbed by the immorality of urban life in Rome around AD 500, he left the city to become a hermit. Disciples later joined him, and within a few decades the hermit became an abbot, and his great rule has guided Western monasticism ever since. Known to history primarily through Gregory the Great's Dialogues, written a century after Benedict's death, this great medieval figure is now made known to us by Carmen Avecedo Butcher. She explores all aspects of his unusual life, illuminating important episodes in the foundation of Western monasticism at the end of the Roman empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages.

Mary Fabyan Windeatt presents the powerful story of the famous life and miracles of St. Benedict for the Vision Book series of saints for youth. Known as the Father of Western Monasticism, St. Benedict played a major role in the Christinization and civilization of post-Roman Europe in the sixth century. Having lived in an era of great immorality and vice, Benedict founded an order for monks whose strong life of prayer and work helped convert the godless society around them. It tells how his Benedictine order of monks spread throughout Europe and the New World. The heroic life of his sister St. Scholastica, his saving a boy from drowning, raising one from the dead, and the story of poisoned wine are all told in this exciting, dramatic tale of a great saint. Illustrated.

A timeless source of wisdom for people looking to lead a life of simplicity, purpose, and serenity The Rule of St. Benedict has governed monastic communities for centuries, but it is far more than a standard religious text. The Rule is, above all, a handbook for living a deliberate life—no matter your religious background or beliefs. It teaches the importance of contemplation and silence, of solitude, and the power of community and unity. With lessons focusing on the simple acts of everyday life, like eating and daily work, along with wisdom for the deeply personal and internal facets of living, such as cultivating humility and practicing forgiveness, The Rule of St. Benedict is a profound guide to living a good and meaningful life. An award-winning translator, Philip Freeman’s version of The Rule is beautifully accessible in its language. With a simple and direct style, the book lays out a way of living that is transformative in its simplicity and striking in its power.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Already the most discussed and most important religious book of the decade." —David Brooks In this controversial bestseller, Rod Dreher calls on American Christians to prepare for the coming Dark Age by embracing an ancient Christian way of life. From the inside, American churches have been hollowed out by the departure of young people and by an insipid pseudo–Christianity. From the outside, they are beset by challenges to religious liberty in a rapidly secularizing culture. Keeping Hillary Clinton out of the White House may have bought a brief reprieve from the state’s assault, but it will not stop the West’s slide into decadence and dissolution. Rod Dreher argues that the way forward is actu­ally the way back—all the way to St. Benedict of Nur­sia. This sixth-century monk, horrified by the moral chaos following Rome’s fall, retreated to the forest and created a new way of life for Christians. He built enduring communities based on principles of order, hospitality, stability, and prayer. His spiritual centers of hope were strongholds of light throughout the Dark Ages, and saved not just Christianity but Western civilization. Today, a new form of barbarism reigns. Many believers are blind to it, and their churches are too weak to resist. Politics offers little help in this spiritual crisis. What is needed is the Benedict Option, a strategy that draws on the authority of Scripture and the wisdom of the ancient church. The goal: to embrace exile from mainstream culture and construct a resilient counterculture. The Benedict Option is both manifesto and rallying cry for Christians who, if they are not to be conquered, must learn how to fight on culture war battlefields like none the West has seen for fifteen hundred years. It's for all mere Chris­tians—Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox—who can read the signs of the times. Neither false optimism nor fatalistic despair will do. Only faith, hope, and love, embodied in a renewed church, can sustain believers in the dark age that has overtaken us. These are the days for building strong arks for the long journey across a sea of night.

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For fifteen centuries Benedictine monasticism has been governed by a Rule that is at once strong enough to instill order and yet flexible enough to have relevance fifteen-hundred years later. This pocket-sized, English-only edition is perfect for individual or group study.