Suggested Reading for Discerners

We are often asked for reading recommendations to aid in the discernment process. Below are some reading suggestions on various topics that our Sisters and aspirants have found helpful in the past. While all are excellent, it is normal that different works will appeal more or less to different individuals, and it is usually most fruitful to read one or two slowly and prayerfully rather than to try to read through many quickly.  

Norbertine Order:

• The Eternal Pilgrim: A Life of Saint Norbert by Dominique-Marie Dauzet, O. Praem.
  • The best place to begin! An engaging and informative introduction to our Holy Father St. Norbert and our Order's founding
• Spirituality of the Premonstratensians – The Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries (2nd Ed. The Spirituality of the Premonstratensians in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries) by François Petit, O. Praem.
  • We recommend starting with Parts 1 and 3 for wonderful overviews of our Order's origins and our Norbertine way of life
• The Life of Saint Norbert (Vita B), trans. Theodore J. Antry, O. Praem.
  • The 12th-century account of St. Norbert's life by his first follower, Bl. Hugh of Fosses
• A Treasury of Norbertine Wisdom
  
  • A booklet of excerpts from Norbertine spiritual authors and exhortations of the Popes to the Norbertine Order

Christian Life:

• Sacred Scripture
• The Catechism of the Catholic Church
• The Way of the Disciple by Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis
• Christ, the Life of the Soul by Bl. Columba Marmion
• True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort
• Confessions of our Holy Father St. Augustine

Religious Life:

• Vita consecrata by Pope St. John Paul II
• The Rule of St. Augustine
• Desire and Unity: Augustinian Spirituality for Today by Le Fébure du Bus
• Knowing the Love of God: Lessons from a Spiritual Master by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.

Cloistered Life:

• Venite seorsum, I-VI
• Verbi Sponsa, Introduction and Part I
• Walled About With God by Dom Jean Prou, OSB

Sacred Liturgy:

• Catechism of the Catholic Church, nn. 1066-1209
• The Wellspring of Worship by Jean Corbon
• Christ in His Mysteries by Bl. Columba Marmion
• The Spirit of the Liturgy by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)