Category: Catholic Adult Audiobooks

The Interior Castle or The Mansions was written by Saint Teresa of Ávila in 1577. After being ordered to write her autobiographical The Life of S. Teresa of Jesus, Teresa was hesitant to begin writing again on her views of the perfection found in internal prayer. Her humility and claims that, “I am not meant for writing; I have neither the health nor the wits for it,” almost prevented Teresa from composing The Interior Castle. However, according to a letter written by Fray Diego, one of Teresa’s former confessors, Teresa was finally convinced to write her book after a she received a vision from God. Diego wrote that God revealed to Teresa, “…a most beautiful crystal globe, made in the shape of a castle, and containing seven mansions, in the seventh and innermost of which was the King of Glory, in the greatest splendor, illumining and beautifying them all. The nearer one got to the center, the stronger was the light; outside the palace limits everything was foul, dark and infested with toads, vipers and other venomous creatures.” With that, Interior Castle was born. It contained the basis for what she felt should be the ideal journey of faith, comparing the contemplative soul to a castle with seven successive interior courts, or chambers, analogous to the seven heavens.

7 Hours and 6 Minutes.

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A beautiful telling of the life of the most important Person who ever lived, Our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus of Nazareth: The Story of His Life Simply Told our dear Mother Mary Loyola, with her rare talent for narrative, brings to life vivid images of Our Lord and His life here on earth. Adding to the story are wonderful details on the geography, time in history, and culture into which Jesus was born. Mother Loyola helps us understand how the prophecies about the Messiah were foreshadowed and fulfilled by Jesus Christ, all supported by the biblical quotations and references chosen by the author. An enjoyable read for middle grade children and adults alike!

8 Hours and 55 Minutes.

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Father Frederick William Faber was a beloved spiritual writer, preacher, and superior of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in London. During the 1850s, Father Faber published several popular spiritual books, which have been treasured by Catholics ever since , including this present work, Kindness.

In this charity-building work, Fr. Faber states that kindness has the “power of making the world happy, or at least of so greatly diminishing the amount of unhappiness in it as to make it quite a different world from what it is at present.” Chapters include: Kindness in General, Kind Thoughts, Kind Words, and Kind Actions.

2 Hours and 40 Minutes.

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The story of The Lepers of Molokai and of the Roman Catholic missionary, Father Damien, who ministered to those who languished in that desolate place, waiting for death to release them from a most intense form of physical and mental suffering. Fr. Damien, born Jozef De Veuster, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a missionary religious order. His charity and care for the lepers was what turned the island into more of a home and refuge for the poor lepers, who had previously been abandoned to live out their days in desolation, unloved, and forgotten by the world. St. Damien won recognition for his ministry to people with leprosy (Hansen’s disease), who had been placed under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine on the remote island of Molokai in the Kingdom of Hawaii. He, himself, contracted and died of this dreaded disease after caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of the people in the colony for sixteen years.

The author visited Molokai several times, and was quite struck by the holiness and relentless work of Fr. Damien. It was Stoddard, actually, who helped establish Father Damien’s position in public esteem.

1 Hour and 52 Minutes.

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Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, T.O.S.F., (8 May 1786 – 4 August 1859), commonly known in English as St. John Vianney, was a French parish priest who is venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint and as the patron saint of all priests. He is often referred to as the “Curé d’Ars”. He became internationally notable for his priestly and pastoral work in his parish because of the radical spiritual transformation of the community of Ars, its surroundings, and souls from far reaching places who came to seek his spitritual counsel. Catholics attribute this to his saintly life, mortifications, his persevering ministry in the sacrament of confession, and his ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to Saint Philomena. This truly humble parish priest changed not only a town, but much of the world of his time! This short biography of the beloved saint was written before he was canonized in 1925, thus the title Blessed before his name in the title of this audiobook.

1 Hours and 53 Minutes.

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Saint Columba (521 – 597) was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in present-day Scotland. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the Patron Saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Catholic saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. Columba reportedly studied under some of Ireland’s most prominent church figures and founded several monasteries in the country. Around 563 he and his twelve companions crossed to Dunaverty near Southend, Argyll in Kintyre before settling in Iona in Scotland, then part of the Irish kingdom of Dál Riata, where they founded a new abbey as a base for spreading the Faith among the northern Pictish kingdoms who were pagan. He remained active in Irish politics, though he spent most of the remainder of his life in Scotland. Three surviving early medieval Latin hymns may be attributed to him.

The story of St. Columba is not remarkable, however as much for his earthly works, and for the spiritual heritage he left behind. Known for many miracles, and a life of great sanctity, his story is inspiring and well worth the read!

2 Hours and 18 Minutes.

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This book is above all things the story of a mother. But, it is also the story of a noble woman—a woman who was truly great, by the very fact that she never sought to be so. She understood the sphere in which a woman’s work in the world must usually lie, and with unflinching devotion led her life along the lines that God had laid down for her. She suffered bravely, forgot herself for others, and remained faithful to her noble ideals, and thus, she ruled as a queen amongst those with whom her life was cast.

St. Monica’s influence was great and far-reaching, but she herself was the last to suspect it, the last to desire it, and that was perhaps the secret of its magnitude. This type of woman is rare in this present day, but, by the grace of God, there are still “other Monicas” living and serving those around them with devotion. If there were more, wouldn’t the world would be a better place!

2 Hours and 4 Minutes.

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A short and engaging biography of the ardent Spanish soldier who, while recuperating from a battle wound, was converted to the service of Christ by reading a Catholic book. The young Ignatius of Loyola was first a soldier from a noble family who fought in the service of the Duke of Navarre. As a young aristocrat Ignatius had a “love of martial exercises and a vainglorious desire for fame”. Joining the army at seventeen, he strutted about “with his cape slinging open to reveal his tight-fitting hose and boots; a sword and dagger at his waist”.

After an injury which forced him to be bedridden, during which time he read De Vita Christi, a book on the life of Christ, Ignatius experienced a dramatic conversion. He dedicated the rest of his life fully to being a “Soldier of Christ”, and went on to found the great Jesuit order. Formally known as the Society of Jesus, the order demanded an unprecedented degree of education, obedience, and sacrifice, and was immensely influential in turning the tide of the Reformation in Europe.

2 Hours and 11 Minutes.

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With the amazing ability of any gifted story-teller, Mother Frances Alice Forbes lays before us the beautiful life story of St. Teresa of Avila. Witty, gifted with great wisdom, charming and courageous, St. Teresa was the great reformer of the Order of Mt. Carmel, founded numerous convents and monasteries, and is universally considered the greatest mystical writer of the Catholic Church, for which she was declared Doctor of the Church. Beginning with her girlhood, and following along through her joining Carmel, years as nun, mystical call to God’s Mission for her, and finally her sufferings and death. This story is one of the best written about this wonderful saint!

2 Hours and 14 Minutes.

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The Life of St. Teresa is the story of the beloved Doctor of the Church as written by herself. Born in the Castilian town of Ávila in 1515, Teresa entered the Carmelite convent of the Incarnation when she was twenty-one. Suffering great illness, as wells as doubts and self-recrimination, she gradually came to a deeper understanding of the power of prayer and contemplation, and the road to spiritual perfection. Her spiritual enlightenment was intensified by many visions and mystical experiences, including the incredible piercing of her heart by a spear of divine love. Over the years she went on to found seventeen Carmelite monasteries throughout Spain, and was a much needed reformer of the Carmelite Order. Considered to be, along with John of the Cross, a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. Famous world-wide for her writings, her works are second in readership among Spanish classics only to the great Don Quixote!

Like many of her writings, her autobiography is enlightening, yet exhortative, seeking to instruct the reader on how to live a more devout Christian life in the manner put forth by the Catholic Church. The Saint’s spiritual struggles, vision of her potential place in Hell, and mystical graces highlighted in this work are deeply moving–yet ,in spite of her high degree of sanctity and closeness to spiritual perfection, she remained very down to earth, making her a favorite among the saints. The Life of Saint Teresa is a must read for anyone seeking a more contemplative life and a closer and more spiritual connection with God through prayer and religious devotion.

13 Hours and 17 Minutes.

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