From Sin to Sanctity

The Prayers and Meditations of St. Anselm

“Only in self-abasement can we be lifted upward, and only in tears and groans can the joy of Heaven be forever ours.”
—St. Anselm of Canterbury

St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) helped inaugurate the Age of Scholasticism, a period of Christian cultural and philosophical rebirth during the High Middle Ages, deepening the Augustinian quest to know both God and His creation rather than God alone. Saint Anselm’s spiritual guidance was widely sought after and helped many souls along their journey to sanctity.

From Sin to Sanctity, translated by TAN Books, is a collection of prayers and meditations St. Anselm composed in response to an inquiry by a pious woman named Adelaide. As St. Anselm states, he wrote these prayers for Adelaide so that her heart “might tend toward a more burning charity of God, and that through the rigorous introspection the prayers demand, she may more despise her sins, by desiring to grow more humble, and by humbling, experience the terror of her final judgment and that such a moment of distress might result in groans and tears.” The devout soul who truly prays these prayers to God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and select apostles and saints, finds that he must humbly acknowledge how he can do nothing without Jesus.

Each prayer is accompanied by a brief introduction and followed by probing questions for your own spiritual meditation and introspection. Like Adelaide, and many before her, we can be challenged and edified by the wisdom of St. Anselm contained in these prayers and meditations.

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