Spiritual Letters

Best known for his apocalyptic novel Lord of the World, Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) was an influential English man of letters at the turn of the twentieth century, a bright star in the constellation of high-profile intellectual converts from Anglicanism to Catholicism. While he made a name for himself as a novelist, Benson’s spiritual and apologetic non-fiction constitutes a significant part of his writing and made a deep impression on his contemporaries. A year after Benson’s untimely death of pneumonia at 42, these Spiritual Letters were published by a fellow Anglican who had followed Benson into the Catholic fold. Before he died, the author approved the publication, on condition that letters’ recipients would remain anonymous. Benson’s clear and gentle advice has abiding value, as it relates to spiritual difficulties faced by all and elucidates principles relevant to any soul seeking perfection. The book draws on letters from Benson’s Anglican and Catholic periods as well as letters of spiritual direction to several individuals, and includes valuable pointers to those wishing to pursue a literary career and those entertaining a religious vocation. The deep continuity in his vision of Christian life is obvious, for already as an Anglican cleric he is meditating on and recommending the writings of Louis de Blois (Blosius) and Ignatius of Loyola.