Fr Damian's Spiritual Theology Notes

              Have a read of Aumann's Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition chapter 7 - "Dionysian Spirituality and the Devotio Moderna" Here is a link to Pope Benedict's talks on female mystics of the Middle Ages from 2010. In particular here is St Catherine of Siena's talk given on 24th November 2010. Catherine of Siena's Dialogue is her most important theological work.  You can buy it here .

Aumann covers St Francis, St Clare and the early Franciscans in chapter six of Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition, pp114-118.  He also mentions St Bonaventure (who I highly recommend if you have the time and inclination!) Pope Benedict covered St Francis of Assisi in his audience of January 27th 2010 .  He spoke on St Clare on 15th September that year. If you look through his audiences for 2010 you will find a number of talks on other Franciscans and Dominican saints. Francis and Clare are conveniently covered in one volume of the Classics of Western Spirituality series. Here's an excellent talk on Franciscan spirituality on Youtube by Br. Bill Short OFM. Fr Casey Cole OFM is a great example of a modern day evangelist on Youtube.  He has loads of great videos on all sorts of issues from a Catholic and Franciscan perspective.  Here's one example: Here's St Francis' Canticle of the Sun as composed by Marty Haugen.

Here's Pope Benedict's talks on the mendicant orders in general and St Dominic in particular. Jordan Aumann covers St Dominic and St Thomas Aquinas in chapter six of Christian Spirituality the Catholic Tradition pp107-114. The Classics of Western Spirituality series includes a volume on the early Dominicans , particularly St Dominic himself. And Irish Dominican Paul Murray OP has a good, easy to read book on Dominican spirituality "The New Wine of Dominican Spirituality: A Drink Called Happiness" . There are many good videos on Youtube about the Dominican tradition.  This one by Fr Simon Gaine OP is a good overview of the Dominican tradition on preaching: Here's a rather nice performance of the Dominican Magnificat (composed by Fergal King) sung by Franciscan friars in Zagreb, Croatia.

There are plenty of good resources to read if you want to find out more about Benedictine Spirituality. Jordan Aumann covers St Benedict himself on pp58-61 of   "Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition" , while chapter 5 (beginning on p69) covers how Benedictine Spirituality developed in the following centuries. Pope Benedict XVI chose his papal name at least in part because of St Benedict and he came back to the subject of St Benedict and his spirituality on a number of occasions: General Audience , 9th April 2008 Homily at Montecassino , 24th May 2009 Verbum Domini [chapter 86,87 on Lectio Divina] On the subject of Lectio Divina, here's how a really cool priest introduces it: Meanwhile here's a more in-depth study from Fr Cassian Folsom of the Benedictine community in Norcia. The monks of Silverstream Priory in Co. Meath are a new Benedictine foundation.  Their blog Vultus Christi includes regular excerpts from the Rule of Ben

You have to be enormously careful when looking for resources on Celtic spirituality.  A lot of what is published is negative towards Catholicism, some of it is very influenced by new age thought, and some is downright pagan! A rule of thumb would be that if the work you're looking at doesn't mention the importance of penance in the Celtic tradition then they're not too close to the early sources. This article  Celtic Spirituality: Just what does it mean? is a good balanced introduction to the subject by Fr Liam Tracey OSM. St Patrick's own writings (the Confessio and the Letter to Coroticus ) can be found online here . If you're interested in buying a book with the original texts from the early Irish and Welsh Church then the "Celtic Spirituality " instalment from The Classics of Western Spirituality series is the place to go. Jordan Aumann doesn't go into too much detail about this subject, but he does have a wee bit on Irish Monasticism o

The spirituality of the New Testament can be a complicated subject (especially when the man explaining it doesn't know it very well!). But one of the main points is the need for all Catholic spirituality to be based on Jesus Christ. Here's a couple of interesting (and accessible) thoughts on prayer through Christ: '"Jesus": The Shortest, Simplest, and Most Powerful Prayer in the World' by Peter Kreeft And here's a video on the 'Jesus Prayer' by Matt Fradd;