At a time when more and more readers are rediscovering their spirituality and seeking to integrate the divine into their daily lives, Vintage is proud to inaugurate its own series of spiritual classics. As the series title suggests, these books include the mainstays of the Western spiritual canon along with some of its less familiar masterpieces. They have been selected both for their historical importance and for their continued relevance to successive generations of readers. Printed in handsome uniform editions, with specially commissioned introductions by distinguished contemporary commentators, Vintage Spiritual Classics present the cumulative wisdom of the centuries to contemporary readers.

St. Francis of Assisi's ecstatic embrace of a life of poverty revolutionized Christianity even as it transformed the ethics of the West. In this luminous, lively book, St. Francis's followers preserved his legend and those of his first disciples, combining stories of miracles with convincing -- and often slyly humorous -- portraits of men who were no less human for having been touched by God.