Only four women in the two thousand-year history of the Church--Thérèse of Lisieux, Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, and Hildegard of Bingen--have the distinction of being named Doctors of the Church because of their impact on the faith.
In Set the World on Fire, bestselling author, retreat leader, and spiritual director Vinita Hampton Wright offers a four-week personal retreat that immerses you in the dramatic lives, historical eras, and groundbreaking ideas of these formidable saints and invites you to develop the grit, humility, pragmatism, hope, joy, and vision these women possessed.
Each week of your retreat begins with weekend reading and prayer to introduce the saint and the primary topic of the chapter, followed by five days of morning and evening prayer. Much of the text comes from the saint's own writings. Scripture, reflection questions, and suggestions for action are designed to help you engage personally with the saint and her wisdom for living your faith.
Each week offers a unique and in-depth experience of the saint and her unique gifts to the Church:
Week one: St. Thérèse of Lisieux--the young Carmelite nun whose autobiography sent ripples across Christendom--will teach you to love God through her Little Way.
Week two: St. Teresa of Avila--a Carmelite who spent years reforming her order and gave to the world a spiritual masterpiece called The Interior Castle--will instruct you in trusting your personal experience of God.
Week three: St. Catherine of Siena--a Third-Order Dominican who poured out her life for people in need but also gave astute, sharp direction to Church leaders--will guide you to live every moment with courage through the love of truth.
Week four: St. Hildegard of Bingen--a Benedictine abbess whose spiritual visions led to books, poetry, music, art, and early scientific discovery--will show you how to engage life with passion and creativity.
Each woman's experience of God, understanding of spirituality, and timeless wisdom gained her the title Doctor of the Church, which indicates that through her life, research, study, and writing, she has deepened and advanced the faith.
Author Biography:
Vinita Hampton Wright is an award-winning author and workshop and retreat leader who served as a book editor for more than thirty years. She retired as managing editor at Loyola Press in 2021.
She is the author of a number of books, including The Soul Tells a Story, The Art of Spiritual Writing, and The St. Teresa of Avila Prayer Book. Her novel, Velma Still Cooks in Leeway, won a Logos Book Award for fiction, and Christianity Today honored her book Dwelling Places as the best fiction of 2007.
Wright earned a bachelor's degree in music education from Pittsburg State University in Kansas and a master's degree in communications from Wheaton College in Illinois. She also earned a certificate in spiritual direction from the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University Chicago. Wright previously worked as a teacher and musician in both the United States and abroad.
Wright lives in northwest Arkansas with her husband, James.
