Butler's ORIGINAL Lives of the Saints - Vol. 3 April/May

Rev. Alban Butler's ORIGINAL Lives of the Saints - April & May- Hardcover - Illustrated -722 pages

To order the full set, click here!

     Very few published works require such a lengthy explanation of exactly WHICH edition is being offered, in what format, and why, than Fr. Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints. The reason is that there are so many very different books being printed under this author’s name and under this title due to it’s long history (the work is almost 300 years old) and its universal popularity. Few catholic books except the Bible, the Confessions, the Imitation, and the Summa, are as widely read. This book has also been extensively revised, altered, and updated since its original publication, with new editions, even 21st century revisions being made, that we feel the time is ripe for an original, unexpurgated, and unrevised print version to be made available.

    This edition is widely considered to be the most complete and authoritative ever issued. It is the 1854 edition of D. J. Sadlier of New York, and in the Preface it gives its “pedigree.” The original was printed anonymously in London in 1759, after 30 years work on the project. The edition published by Sadlier is an exact replica of the Dublin and London edition of 1833. Being a scholarly work, but also a work deeply imbued with the piety and devotion of a priest’s lifetime effort, it is loaded with footnotes which comprise a significant proportion of the total text. In the original book, the footnotes were printed in such a small, closely-set typeface, that they were almost unreadable.

    Loreto Publications has utilized the recent development of OCR scanning to extract the original text and to put it into a modern, highly readable, and much larger font typeface than any of the old editions. We have extensively proofread the text thus generated, and have made the layout “user friendly” as the moderns so succinctly state. In addition, our already available edition of Butler’s Little Pictorial Lives—which is a drastic abridgment of this original edition to one volume, illustrated, with one saint and one image for each day of the year—has provided us with 365 beautiful 19th century engravings which we have added to this original un-illustrated text.

    Loreto has made a few corrections of obvious typographical errors and has slightly altered some capitalization rubrics and some spellings, but we have has refrained from alterations to the text. We think that modern readers are not so uneducated as to need the work “updated” for them, either as to content or style, since the beautiful expressiveness of Butler’s 18th century grammatical and rhetorical mastery is not so far removed historically as to render it unintelligible to any ordinary 21st century reader. We are certain that our readers will appreciate the original work for its piety, beauty, and comprehensive scholarship.

    A great man once said that “History is the laboratory of Wisdom.” And where do we find the best history? It is found in the lives of the saints, for it is through their lives on earth, lived within the union of Christ’s mystical body, the Catholic Church, that we see the only history that truly matters for all eternity.

    This spectacular history by Fr. Alban Butler, The Lives of the Saints, presents to the reader the life story of over 1600 saints and their times. In the original introduction we find this bold statement:

“It is on this account we have ventured to designate The Lives of the Saints an historical supplement to the Old and New Testaments. We think this work deserves to be so considered, on account of the close resemblance it bears to the historical portions of holy writ. Let the divine economy, in this respect, be for a moment the subject of the reader’s consideration.”

    Loreto Publications has here reproduced the finest original edition of the text from the early 19th century with no modernization, alterations, deletions, or additions to the product of Father Butler.

    Father Alban Butler was born in 1710, at Appletree, Northamptonshire, the second son of Simon Butler, Esq. Orphaned at the age of eight, he was sent to be educated at the English College, Douay, in France. In 1735, Butler was ordained a priest. At Douay, he was appointed professor of philosophy, and later professor of theology. It was at Douay, he began his principal work The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints. He also prepared material for Richard Challoner’s Memoirs of Missionary Priests, a work on the martyrs of the reign of Elizabeth. He labored for some time as a missionary priest in Staffordshire, and was finally appointed president of the English seminary at Saint Omer in France, where he remained till his death in 1773.

Table of Contents

Approbation        

Publisher’s Notes    
St. Hugh    
St. Melito    
St. Gilbert    
St. Francis of Paula    
St. Apian    
St. Theodosia    
St. Nicetus    
St. Ebba    
Bl. Constantine II    
St. Bronacha    
Sts. Agape, Chionia, and Irene    
St. Richard    
St. Ulpian    
St. Nicetas    
St. Isidore    
St. Plato    
St. Vincent Ferrer    
St. Gerald    
St. Tigernach in Ireland    
St. Becan    
St. Sixtus    
A Hundred and Twenty Martyrs of Hadia    
St. Celestine    
St. William    
St. Prudentius    
St. Celsus    
St. Aphraates    
St. Hegesippus    
St. Aibert    
Bl. Herman Joseph    
St. Finan    
St. Dionysius    
St. Ædesius    
St. Perpetuus    
St. Walter    
Bl. Albert    
St. Mary of Egypt    
The Massylitan Martyrs    
St. Eupsychius    
The Roman Captives    
St. Waltrude    
St. Gaucher    
St. Dotto    
St. Bademus    
Bl. Mechtildes    
St. Leo the Great    
St. Antipas    
St. Guthlake    
St. Maccai    
St. Aid    
St. Sabas the Goth    
St. Zeno    
St. Julius    
St. Victor of Braga    
St. Hermenegild    
St. Guinoch    
St. Caradoc    
Sts. Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus    
Sts. Carpus, Papylus, and Agathodorus    
Sts. Antony, John, and Eustachius    
St. Benezet    
Bl. Lidwina    
St. Peter Gonzales    
Sts. Basilissa and Anastasia    
St. Paternus    
St. Munde    
St. Ruadhan    
Eighteen Martyrs of Saragossa, and St. Encratis
St. Turibius    
St. Fructuosus    
St. Druon    
St. Joachim of Sienna    
St. Mans    
St. Anicetus    
St. Stephen    
St. Simeon    
St. Apollonius    
St. Galdin    
St. Laserian    
St. Leo IX    
St. Elphege    
St. Ursmar    
St. Agnes of Monte Pulciano    
St. Serf    
St. James of Sclavonia    
St. Anselm    
St. Anastasius    
St. Anastasius I    
St. Anastasius the Younger    
St. Beuno    
St. Eingan    
St. Malrubius    
Sts. Soter and Caius    
St. Caius    
Sts. Azades, Tharba, and Many Others    
Sts. Epipodius and Alexander    
St. Theodorus    
St. Opportuna    
St. Leonides    
St. Rufus    
St. George    
St. Adalbert    
St. Gerard    
St. Ibar    
St. Fidelis of Sigmarengen    
St. Mellitus    
Sts. Bona and Doda    
Bl. Robert    
St. Mark    
St. Macull    
St. Anianus    
St. Phæbadius    
St. Ivia    
St. Kebius    
Sts. Cletus and Marcellinus    
St. Marcellinus    
St. Richarius    
St. Paschasius Radbert    
St. Anthimus and Other Martyrs at Nicomedia
St. Anastasius    
St. Zita    
St. Vitalis    
Sts. Didymus and Theodora    
Sts. Pollio, Lector, and His Companions    
St. Cronan    
St. Patricius    
St. Peter    
St. Robert    
St. Hugh    
St. Fiachna    
St. Catharine of Sienna    
St. Maximus    
St. Sophia    
Sts. James, Marian, and Companions    
St. Erkonwald    
St. Ajutre    
St. Philip    
St. James the Less    
St. Asaph    
St. Marcou    
St. Sigismund    
St. Andeolus    
St. Brieuc    
St. Amator    
Sts. Acius and Acheolus    
St. Athanasius    
The Invention of the Holy Cross    
St. Alexander    
St. Monica    
St. Godard    
St. Pius V    
St. Hilary    
St. Angelus    
St. Mauront    
St. Avertin    
St. John before the Latin Gate    
St. John Damascene    
St. Eadbert    
St. Stanislas    
St. Benedict II    
St. John of Beverley    
The Apparition of St. Michael the Archangel    
St. Peter    
St. Victor    
St. Wiro    
St. Odrian    
St. Gybrian    
St. Gregory Nazianzen    
St. Hermas    
St. Nicholas    
St. Brynoth I    
St. Antoninus    
Sts. Gordia and Epimachus    
St. Isidore    
St. Comgall    
St. Cataldus    
St. Mammertus    
St. Maieul    
St. Francis di Girolamo    
Sts. Nereus and Achilleus    
St. Flavia Domitilla    
St. Pancras    
St. Epiphanius    
St. Germanus    
St. Rictrudes    
St. John the Silent    
St. Peter Regalati    
St. Servatius    
St. Boniface    
St. Pachomius    
St. Pontius    
St. Carthagh    
Sts. Peter, Andrew, and Companions    
St. Dympna    
St. Genebrard    
St. John Nepomucen    
St. Simon Stock    
St. Ubaldus    
St. Honoratus    
St. Abdjesus    
St. Abdas    
St. Brendan the Elder    
St. Paschal Baylon    
St. Possidius    
St. Maden    
St. Maw    
St. Cathan    
St. Silaye    
St. Eric, King of Sweden    
Sts. Theodotus, Vintner, and Seven Virgins    
St. Venantius    
St. Potamon    
St. Peter Celestine    
St. Pudentiana    
St. Dunstan    
St. Bernardine of Sienna    
St. Ethelbert    
Bl. Yvo    
St. Felix of Cantalicio    
St. Godrick    
St. Hospitius    
St. Yvo    
St. Basiliscus    
Sts. Castus and Æmilius    
St. Bobo    
St. Conall    
St. Julia    
St. Desiderius, Bishop of Langres    
St. Desiderius, Bishop of Vienne    
St. Vincent of Lerins    
Sts. Donatian and Rogatian    
St. John de Prado    
St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi    
St. Urban    
St. Adhelm    
St. Gregory VII    
Sts Maximus, and Venerand    
St. Dumhade    
St. Philip Neri    
St. Augustine, Apostle of the English    
St. Eleutherius    
St. Quadratus    
St. Oduvald    
St. John    
St. Bede    
St. Julius    
St. Germanus    
Sts. Caraunus, Caranus and Caro    
St. Maximinus    
St. Cyril    
Sts. Conon and his Son    
Sts. Sisinnius, Martyrius, and Alexander    
St. Felix I    
St. Walstan    
St. Ferdinand III    
St. Maguil    
St. Petronilla    
Sts. Cantius, Cantianus, and Cantianilla

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