The Month of Mary, According to the Spirit of St. Francis of Sales

Gilli, GasparProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.1
Word count
332K words
Chapters
34

Tags

English Originals Religion Humanistic CareSpiritual PracticeSpiritual ComfortSpiritual HealingSlow ReadingTender SentimentWestern Thought19th Century

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Month of Mary, According to the Spirit of St. Francis of Sales by Francis et al.Author: Gilli, Gaspar,Language: English, Class: BX: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: Churches, Church movements, Release Date: May 5, 2015

Editor's review

Taking the spirit of St Francis de Sales as its guiding thread, this book arranges daily devotional readings for the Marian month of May, and is a typical Catholic devotional text. Its value lies not in systematic theology but in translating the devotional attitude of a saint known for gentleness and patience into meditations and prayers that can be practiced day by day. Readers will sense a style of piety that is neither intense nor demanding, suitable for slow use in personal retreat or family prayer. As the original is an English public-domain ebook, the language has the solemn feel of nineteenth-century religious texts, with long sentences requiring some patience. It is best treated as a seasonal devotional manual rather than a book to read straight through; reading a short section each day, together with scripture and silence, better captures the purpose of its arrangement. For those studying Catholic devotional tradition or the thought of St Francis de Sales, it also serves as a sample of popular devotional literature.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read day by day through the thirty-one days of May, one piece per day, leaving time for meditation.
  2. Before reading, learn the basic life and gentle devotional teachings of St Francis de Sales.
  3. Keep a pen to mark passages that move you, and review them with brief notes at the weekend.
  4. If English reading is difficult, consult Chinese Catholic devotional terminology for support.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34

FAQ

Is this book suitable for non-Catholics? It can be read, but readers should know that it is a devotional exercise for the Catholic May devotion to Mary. Non-Catholic readers can treat it as material for understanding Marian devotion and the devotional style of St Francis de Sales without following it as a religious practice; without familiarity with the terminology, there will be some distance.
Should it be read day by day? The book is arranged for the Marian month of May, and daily reading best matches its intention and helps establish a steady devotional rhythm. For study or browsing, it can of course be dipped into, but the seasonal and continuous structure will be lost.
How difficult is the English? It is nineteenth-century religious English, with long sentences and solemn diction; the vocabulary is not obscure, but the feel is distant from modern English. A basic reading knowledge of English is enough, and slow reading with a dictionary is safer.
How does it relate to the original works of St Francis de Sales? This book is a Marian-month devotional compiled according to the spirit of de Sales, not a work by de Sales himself. It distills his gentle piety for daily meditation and suits readers who want to encounter his devotional style without reading his original works directly.

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About the author

Gilli, Gaspar Author

Gaspar Gilli is an author about whom very little is publicly known; his nationality, dates of birth and death, and personal history cannot be confirmed from available sources. Only one work by him is held in the collection: The Month of Mary, According to the Spirit of St. Francis of Sales. Judging from its title and subject, the book belongs to Catholic devotional literature on devotion to the Virgin Mary, typically offering daily meditations, prayers, and reflections for the month of May, guided by the gentle spirituality of St. Francis de Sales. Works of this kind emphasize practical use and spiritual accompaniment, written in plain and approachable language for ordinary believers rather than academic readers. Because public information is limited, Gilli's style and influence can only be assessed tentatively from this single work, and further research is needed to establish the details of his life.