By Charles Péguy

Saints and Sinnners is a meditation on the relationship between God and man. In Péguy’s poetic presentation, God the Father speaks: “All are not saints, such is my Christendom. There are sinners too, there have to be some, it is thus.” Yet the ordinary orientation of God towards all people, saints and sinners alike, is one of love. This volume speaks powerfully to that enduring reality, with evocative prose reflections on the movement of man at work, play, and study, a series of striking individual portraits, and poetry selections from Péguy’s Mysteries.

The second volume of translations by Julian Green of Péguy into English (published as Men and Saints in 1943), Saints and Sinners captures what Green sees as Péguy’s greatest gift as a man and poet: “to speak intelligibly to all people, and to help them.”

The disregard of sinners for saints and despite this the salvation of sinners by saints, this is the whole of Christian history. (Charles Péguy)

Charles Péguy (1873–1914) was an acclaimed French poet, essayist, publisher, and editor of the magazine Les Cahiers de la Quinzaine. A staunch patriot and socialist, he converted to Roman Catholicism and his writings are imbued with the Catholic imaginative spirit. He died in the service of his beloved France on the eve of the Battle of the Marne.

Paperback: 170pp.

ISBN: 978-1950970490