Of the Love of God: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Of the Love of God, credited to Saint Francis de Sales, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of OF THE LOVE OF GOD, by SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES. Read by Dave7. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Bishop of Geneva from 1602, was a renowned spiritual director who produced two classic guidebooks for earthly wayfarers on their spiritual journey to God: Introduction a la vie devote (Introduction to the Devout Life, 1609) and Traite' de l'amour de Dieu (Treatise on the Love of God, or Of the Love of God, 1616). In the Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis shows how anyone, whatever his or her calling or station in life, can strive for and achieve a life a piety and devotion to God. It is filled with commonsense spiritual wisdom. Of the Love of God is a more detailed manual for those who are already somewhat advanced on their spiritual journey and are under the care of a personal spiritual director. In this work, he describes the nature of divine love (Bk. II), the manner in which love is perfected in the lover (Bk. III), and the ways in which love can be diminished or lost (Bk. IV). He explains that divine love operates in the soul by acts of complacency and benevolence (Bk. V) and shows how this love is practiced through prayer and meditation (Bk. VI). Divine love, perfected by prayer, leads to union with God (Bk. VII), conformity of the soul's will with the divine will (Bk. VIII), submission to the will of God (Bk. IX), and love of God above all created things (Bk. X). He illustrates how the virtues operate in a soul that has reached this spiritual plateau (Bk. XI) and concludes by offering practical counsels on how best to journey on the road to eternal union with God (Bk. XII). Because of Saint Francis's keen spiritual insights and theological rectitude, Pope Pius IX in 1877 declared him a doctor of the Catholic Church. (Introduction by dave7)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Of the Love of God
• Author credits: Saint Francis de Sales
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 38
• Listed recording duration: 18:50:22

Catalogue topics

• catholic
• religion

Opening tracks: first 24 of 38

1. 00 - Author's Preface — 11:22
2. 01 - Bk. I, Introduction, 1-6 — 35:53
3. 02 - Bk. I, Introduction, 7-11 — 39:38
4. 03 - Bk. I, Introduction, 12-18 — 31:32
5. 04 - Bk. II, The Origin of Divine Love, 1-6 — 32:50
6. 05 - Bk. II, The Origin of Divine Love, 7-11 — 32:07
7. 06 - Bk. II, The Origin of Divine Love, 12-16 — 30:50
8. 07 - Bk. II, The Origin of Divine Love, 17-22 — 35:41
9. 08 - Bk. III, The Progress and Perfection of Love, 1-4 — 31:37
10. 09 - Bk. III, The Progress and Perfection of Love, 5-8 — 21:41
11. 10 - Bk. III, The Progress and Perfection of Love, 9-15 — 26:50
12. 11 - Bk. IV, The Decay and Ruin of Charity, 1-6 — 38:28
13. 12 - Bk. IV, The Decay and Ruin of Charity, 7-11 — 30:43
14. 13 - Bk. V, Complacency and Benevolence, 1-6 — 37:36
15. 14 - Bk. V, Complacency and Benevolence, 7-12 — 34:36
16. 15 - Bk. VI, Holy Love in Prayer and Meditation, 1-4 — 34:20
17. 16 - Bk. VI, Holy Love in Prayer and Meditation, 5-8 — 28:20
18. 17 - Bk. VI, Holy Love in Prayer and Meditation, 9-12 — 24:12
19. 18 - Bk. VI, Holy Love in Prayer and Meditation, 13-15 — 26:55
20. 19 - Bk. VII, The Union of the Soul with Its God, 1-4 — 32:52
21. 20 - Bk. VII, The Union of the Soul with Its God, 5-9 — 32:25
22. 21 - Bk. VII, The Union of the Soul with Its God, 10-14 — 26:43
23. 22 - Bk. VIII, The Love of Conformity, 1-5 — 27:03
24. 23 - Bk. VIII, The Love of Conformity, 6-10 — 33:33

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.