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Reading With the Saints: A Few of the Books That Influenced Them
We should read them too
Many people, whether Catholic or non-Catholic, have read books either by or about the saints (often both). You may have been forced to read St. Augustine’s Confessions in college, or you may have voluntarily and happily read George Weigel’s mammoth biography of Pope St. John Paul II, Witness to Hope. Strictly speaking, every time you read the New Testament, you’re reading a book written by a saint.
But what about the saints themselves? What did they read (besides the Bible, of course) and does it even matter? As to the second part of that question, I believe it does matter, and I’ll explain why.
Whether we realize it or not, whenever we attempt any task we look to those who have done it, and done it well, before us. CEOs of companies study people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, junior high school basketball players study the way Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played the game, a rock guitarist will spend hours listening to Jimmy Page or Eddie Van Halen, and young (and old) authors will analyze the writing styles of Ernest Hemingway or Shirley Jackson.
It’s the same with the saints and the Christian life. Navigating the world is no easy task at the best of times (and it is rarely the best of times) and having guides to…
