Ascending from the metaphysics of demonstrating effect to the higher dimension of mystical consciousness, in which life is lived by Grace, the reader is led into the realm of the soul: the earth of material experience melts and the light of Spirit dawns as stillness and silence of the soul-experience within.

    He was converted to Christianity, studied Stoic and Platonic philosophy, and founded a school of Christian philosophy at Rome, where he wrote two Apologies on Christian belief (150-60). He is said to have been martyred at Rome. Curiosity is baffled, but faith and love are fed by these scanty relics of primitive antiquity. Yet may we well be grateful for what we have. These writings come down to us as the earliest response of converted nations to the testimony of Jesus. They are primary evidences of the canon and the credibility of the New Testament. -from the Introductory Notice

    Francis. She was born in Laviano, near Perugia, and died in Cortona. She was canonized in 1728. She is the patron saint of the falsely accused; hoboes; homeless; insane; orphaned; mentally ill; midwives; penitents; single mothers; reformed prostitutes; third children; tramps. Saint Margaret of Cortona aroused Mauriac's interest because very little is known about her in France and she succumbed to human love and even had a child. It distracted him in a time where the Germans were all over France and he followed her wherever she led him. This is the story of one such encounter. Mauriac, Fran�ois 1885-1970, French writer. Mauriac achieved success in 1922 and 1923 with Le Baiser au l�preux and Genitrix (tr. of both in The Family, 1930). Generally set in or near his native Bordeaux, his novels are imbued with his profound, though nonconformist, Roman Catholicism. His characters exist in a tortured universe; nature is evil and man eternally prone to sin. His major novels are The Desert of Love (1925, tr. 1929), Th�r�se (1927, tr. 1928), and Vipers' Tangle (1932, tr. 1933). Other works include The Frontenacs (1933, tr. 1961) and Woman of the Pharisees (1941, tr. 1946); a life of Racine (1928) and of Jesus (1936, tr. 1937); and plays, notably Asmod�e (1938, tr. 1939). Also a distinguished essayist, Mauriac became a columnist for Figaro after World War II. Collections of his articles and essays include Journal, 1932-39 (1947, partial tr. Second Thoughts, 1961), Proust's Way (1949, tr. 1950), and Cain, Where Is Your Brother? (tr. 1962). Mauriac received the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature.