‘The Science of the Saints’: The Spirituality of Butler's Lives of the Saints

Abstract

Recent work on the history of post-Reformation English Catholicism has emphasised the central importance of spirituality but has shown that devotion, like the English Catholic community itself, has been continually changing. Challoner's works, especially hisGarden of the Soul,dominated the later eighteenth century but, though the title remained popular, the contents suffered revision. However, the contemporary work of his collaborator, Alban Butler'sLives of the Saints,with its meditation on each feast-day, remained virtually intact from its publication in 1756-59 until 1956.