260. Holy Women by Pope Benedict XVI

Holy Women by Pope Benedict XVI (Buy)

Pages: 143
Ages: 18+
Finished: Nov. 24, 2011
First Published: June 28, 2011
Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor
Genre: Catholic, Biography, Religion, Inspirational
Rating: 4/5




First sentence:

In 1988, on the occasion of the Marion Year, Bl. John Paul II wrote an Apostolic Letter entitled Mulieris Dignitatem on the precious role that women have played and play in the life of the Church.

Acquired: This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Holy Women. They are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.

Reason for Reading:   I love reading about the Saints and want to read more work of Pope B16.

This is a collection of articles on seventeen holy women of the church throughout the ages, most of the women are saints, though not quite all; most were nuns, but again not quite all.  These writings are "derived from catecheses given by Pope Benedict XVI during his weekly general audience from September 1, 2010 to April 6, 2011."  They have only been edited slightly to fit the book form.  These are brief histories but meaty with information and inspiration, Benedict gets right to the heart of matters and tells a history of the woman's life, what lead her to her religious/spiritual way of life, tells us what these women achieved, how some were honoured and respected while alive, how others were martyrs for God.  The Pope then winds each article down by placing the woman's achievements/religious teachings in our own modern times, showing how what she did or said is still relevant today and each ends with a relevant prayer.  Most of the women are from the middle ages but the time span covered is broad ranging from 1098 to 1897 and the women are presented more or less chronologically with only slight deviation.  The women included are:

St. Hildegard of Bingen
St. Claire of Assisi
St. Matilda of Hackeborn
St. Gertrude the Great
Bl. Angela of Foligno
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
St. Bridget of Sweden
Marguerite d Oingt
St. Juliana of Cornillon
St Catherine of Siena
Julian of Norwich
St. Veronica Giuliani
St. Catherine of Bologna
St. Catherine of Genoa
St. Joan of Arc
St. Teresa of Avila
St. Therese of Lisieux

The book is short and written in a very readable voice making it possible to quickly read through the book, however, I decided to take my time and read a biography a night so I could digest and process the information on each woman before going on to the next one.  An highly enjoyable, entertaining, informative and, inspirational read!