Yes, yet another early posting, since I’ll be busy this weekend. The fifth part of the book consists of the translator’s Introduction (in three parts), and the appendix, a letter between close associates of Catherine which describes her saintly death.
I shy away from reading introductions and forewords before the rest of the book. They have a tendency to include spoilers, or try to lead me toward the introducer’s ideas of the book instead of my own. Now, this is actually a rather spoiler-free introduction, though I’m still not sorry I didn’t read it out first. All the foreign words and typos, not to mention the length, would have been terribly discouraging as a beginning. Still, it’s a nice overview of the historical and religious situation and has some good info about Catherine’s early life.
The appendix isn’t short, but I found it interesting. Btw, Sexagesima Sunday is the second Sunday before Lent. It was called Sexagesima, ‘sixty’, because it’s about sixty days till Easter (or actually, sixty days till the Wednesday after Easter). Orthodox areas used to start abstaining from meat that early, apparently.
MANUAL DOWNLOAD HERE!
Introduction, part 1
Introduction, part 2
Introduction, part 3
LINKS TO THE PREVIOUS PARTS:
Book 1: A Treatise on Divine Providence
Book 2: A Treatise on Discretion
Book 3: A Treatise on Prayer
Book 4: A Treatise on Obedience