See this legally free ebook:

  • Spiritual Direction for the Use of Religious Communities, by the author of “Golden Sands”, translated by Ms. Ella McMahon (New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: Benziger Brothers, 1884). With Imprimatur. May be read online, and available in pdf, epub, and mobi formats, at Internet Archive. Available in pdf format at Wikimedia Commons.
    • [Note: We surmise that the translator is Ella J. MacMahon (year of decease unknown) and not the novelist Eleanor MacMahon (+1956), and thus likely to be in the public domain in jurisdictions that reckon copyright period based on year of death. If this assumption is incorrect, kindly inform us immediately. On the other hand, the Wikimedia Commons page states that the ebook it is in the public domain under US law.]

See also these texts and ebooks on the ministry of spiritual direction:

  • “The Art of Spiritual Direction”, by Pope Saint John XXIII, Address on September 9, 1962. From The Encyclicals and Other Messages of John XXIII (TPS Press, 1964): pp. 129-135. May be read online on this page of Catholic Culture.
  • “A Historical Sketch of the Catholic Tradition of Spiritual Direction by Means of Letters: A Representative Selection”, by Kathleen Bonello, Melita Theologica, Vol. 58, No. 2 (2007): pp. 31-88. Available in pdf format at the University of Malta.
  • “A Spiritual Director for All Time for All”, by Joseph Kozlowski. From Carmelite Digest (Autumn 1989). May be read online on this page of EWTN Library.
  • “Toward a Contemporary Model of Spiritual Direction: A Comparative Study of Saint John of the Cross and Carl R. Rogers”, by Kevin Gerald Culligan, O.C.D., Ephemerides Carmeliticae, Vol. 31, No. 1 (1980): pp. 29-89. May be read online and available in pdf format on this page of the Bibliotheca Carmelitana Digitalis at DigiCarmel. available in pdf format on this page of Teresianum.
  • The Way of the Heart: Letters of Direction, by Father Maurice Le Sage d’Hauteroche d’Hulst, edited with an introduction by Mgr. Alfred Baudrillart, translated by W.H. [William Henry] Mitchell (New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: Benziger Brothers, 1913). With Imprimatur. May be read online, and available in pdf, epub, and mobi formats, at Internet Archive.
    • [Note: We have found no information on the year and date of the translator’s decease, hence we cannot determine with certainty if it is in the public domain in jurisdictions that reckon copyright period based on year of death. However it is in the public domain under US law. Further information from readers would be appreciated.]

On the Feast of Saint Claude La Colombière and Blessed Michał Sopoćko. For other texts and ebooks, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

“The mortification of one’s own body… is not acceptable to God except in so far as it is an act of virtue; and this depends on its being done with due discretion… Since, however, man is easily mistaken in judging of matters concerning himself, such vows as these are more fittingly kept or disregarded according to the judgment of a superior…” (St. Thomas Aquinas)