Written between the mid-fourth and late sixth centuries to commemorate and glorify the achievements of early Christian saints, these six biographies depict men

These pioneering lives are central sources for the major Christian monastic figures from St. Antony, who died in 356, to St. Benedict (c. 480-c. 547). Shedding

'Perpetua shouted out with joy as the sword pierced her, for she wanted to taste some of the pain and she even guided the hesitant hand of the trainee gladiator

The life and times of the early church were every bit as exciting as our own. But the living pulse of early Christian life, worship and controversy is too often