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The Library

Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

1693 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.

1201–1300

The Thirteenth Century

1 work

c. 1240–1260

Middle Dutch

The Poems and Letters

Hadewijch of Brabant · 13th century

Stanzaic poems in the forms of troubadour song, and letters of spiritual direction to younger women, on the cost of loving God without consolation.

Beguine · Poetry

1301–1400

The Fourteenth Century

1 work

1348–1349

Middle English

The Form of Living

Richard Rolle · c. 1300–1349

A guide written in English for a woman becoming a recluse, on temptations, on the degrees of love, and on how to keep the heart occupied.

Western · Rule

1601–1700

The Seventeenth Century

2 works

c. 1604–1641

French

The Letters

Jane Frances de Chantal · 1572–1641

Spiritual direction from the co-founder of the Visitation order, on dryness in prayer, on grief, and on running a religious congregation for women without enclosure.

Western · Letters

c. 1689–1715

French

The Letters of Spiritual Direction

François Fénelon · 1651–1715

Letters to courtiers, soldiers, and women of the court on detachment, self-love, and bearing with one's own faults without discouragement.

Western · Letters