This selection of early saints' lives, full of vivid incidents and
astonishing miracles, consists of classics of hagiography that were all written
in the second half of the 4th century.Written between the mid-fourth and late sixth centuries to commemorate and
glorify the achievements of early Christian saints, these six biographies
depict men who devoted themselves to solitude, poverty and prayer. Athanasius
records Antony's extreme seclusion in the Egyptian desert, despite temptation
by the devil and visits from his followers. Jerome also shows those who fled
persecution or withdrew from society to pursue lives of chastity and asceticism
in his accounts of Paul of Thebes, Hilarion and Malchus. In his Life of Martin,
Sulpicius Severus describes the achievements of a man who combined the roles of
monk, bishop and missionary, while Gregory the Great tells of Benedict, whose
Rule became the template for monastic life. Full of vivid incidents and
astonishing miracles, these Lives have provided inspiration as models for
centuries of Christian worship.
