In Marvels of Creation, Venerable Louis of Granada writes beautifully and profoundly, so that we might see the wonders that God has put in plain sight and give glory to Him for them. Here is great spiritual fruit that has nourished the greatest saints for centuries and now will sustain you in prayerful reflection and wonder of all that God created in His perfect and awesome design.

One of the most prominent and exceptional spiritual teachers of the sixteenth century, this holy Dominican stands as a master of the spiritual life throughout the whole Christian tradition. Born in extremely poor circumstances, his mother was widowed when he was five, and the pair subsisted on alms gathered from outside the gate of a Dominican priory.

Eventually, Louis became a Dominican himself, and began a career of preaching that resulted, at length, in traveling throughout Spain and Portugal. He attained—despite the humble friar's best efforts—various posts in the Order of Preachers and served at courts of nobles and the queen regent of Portugal. He was offered bishoprics and the cardinalate, but declined all offers.

He suffered much in his life, accused by the Spanish Inquisition of heresy unjustly; he was later vindicated by the Council of Trent and the witness of subsequent saints. Indeed, he counts among his readers and recommenders such pillars of sanctity as St. Rose of Lima, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Louise de Marillac, and St. Francis de Sales, who recommended Venerable Louis's work be read as a "second Breviary." Venerable Louis's Sinner's Guide has been compared to The Imitation of Christ for its breadth, intensity, and usefulness for devotion and has been translated into Italian, French, German, Polish, Latin, and Greek. Some of his books have even made it into Turkish and Japanese. But Venerable Louis's primary mission, quite unusually for his time, was to write and preach for the laity. Indeed, a disapproving observer said Venerable Louis wrote for "wives of carpenters," maybe forgetting who the Blessed Virgin was. Let, then, the words of this venerable Spanish preacher illuminate your heart with the light of Christ, speaking, as it were, straight from the bosom of the Master.
 
With this updated and annotated edition of The Marvels of Creation, you can discover what the great saints have known: that we are to wonder and praise all things, great and small, which our creator God has placed in the world around us . . . and that Venerable Louis is a spiritual guide unlike any other.