Butler's Lives of the Saints - The Saint Austin Press

DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK

Noted for piety and accuracy, this is a reprint of the last full edition (1956) of the most comprehensive guide in English to the saints of the Catholic Church.

Originally written in the eighteenth century, this four-volume edition of Butler’s Lives of the Saints features 2,565 saints, significantly more than the original 1,486. The saints are arranged according to the day of the year on which their feast is celebrated according to the liturgical calendar of the pre-Vatican II Roman Rite. 

Edited by Herbert J. Thurston, S.J., and Donald Attwater, this edition captures the charm of Butler’s prose, making it ideal for both daily meditation and study. Each biography highlights the saint’s key virtues, accompanied by a summary of trustworthy information about their life, and concludes with a brief overview of additional sources and related saints. More than just a collection of facts, this work aims to inspire readers by showing the greatness of the saints, encouraging them to deepen their love for God and to strive for holiness.

ABOUT DONALD ATTWATER

Donald Attwater (24 December 1892–30 January 1977) was a British Catholic author, editor and translator, and a visiting lecturer at the University of Notre Dame.

His parents were Methodists who became Anglicans while Attwater was a child and he himself became a Catholic at the age of 18. He studied Law but did not earn a degree.
Having served in the Sinai and Palestine campaign during the First World War, he developed an interest in Eastern Christianity while in the Middle East. After the war he lived for a time on Caldey Island and was profoundly influenced by the monks of Caldey Abbey. Throughout the 1930s, 40s and 50s he was a frequent contributor to the Catholic press in both Britain and America and a prolific author, translator and editor of books on Christian themes.

In 1936 he was one of the founders of the Catholic peace movement Pax, which opposed the invasion of Abyssinia by Fascist Italy.

Attwater was married to Rachel Attwater of South Wales, a fellow historian and published author on Catholic saints in the Orient.