From the age of fourteen until his death at the age of eighty-two, Pope John XXIII kept what he called his 'Journal of a Soul' - the record of his growth in holiness. Elected Pope at the age of seventy-eight he impressed the world with the breadth of his mind but also with his simplicity and his will to be at the service of others. This book covers the full span of his long career from the seminary at Bergamo to his brief but transformative papacy.His journal is a rare and intimate record of the spiritual life of a much-loved figure. As he wrote, 'my soul is in these pages.'

IntroductionPeter the Apostle: The end in viewJohn Chrysostom: Prayer for the Virgin's intercession, fourth century; Extract from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday: Christ's descent into the underworld; God's protection (St. Patrick)St. Augustine: Night prayer (Alcuin)Aelfric: Watch over me (St. Dunstan)St. Bernard: Come, Creator Spirit; Sermon notes by Thomas Aquinas for the fest of St. Bartholomew the Apostle; Prayer of giving (St. Francis of Assissi); Private devotionsThe Homilies: Patience worksLancelot Andrewes: Morning prayer (Lancelot Andrewes)John Donne: The call (George Herbert)Jeremy Taylor: Prayer (Book of Common Prayer)John Bunyan: Help for prisoners: Prayer after sentence of death (John Gother)Jonathan Swift: Melancholy (Christopher Smart)Jonathan Edwards: A prayer found in Mrs. Chapone's handwriting after her death (Hester Chapone)John Wesley: A prayer that may easily be said by a woman in the state of pregnancy (Richard Challoner)Laurence Sterne: Prayer (Charles Wesley)Sydney Smith: Gunpowder treason (John Keble)John Henry Newman: Prayer (Gerard Manley Hopkins)Charles Spurgeon: Prayer to Mary (Ronald Knox)Martin Luther King: Jesus (Mother Teresa)H. A. Williams: Extract from a sermon by Billy Graham, California, 1974; Prayer for murderers (Bishop Dehqani-Tafti)Pope John Paul II