First published in 1589, Father Lorenzo Scupoli’s “The Spiritual Combat, The Peace of the Soul, and Thoughts on Death” is a classic Catholic text on spiritual discipline. Scupoli’s work was commercially successful and was highly influential soon after it was published. Prominent religious figures such as St. Francis de Sales recommended that everyone under his direction read it every day as he did. Father Scupoli believed that in one’s daily life one must “fight or die” in a spiritual sense. The...
