All of the great ones are here: Hildegard of Bingen, Francis of Assisi, Dante, and Chaucer from the High Middle Ages; Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and John Donne from the Reformation; English and American Romantics such as Browning and Whittier; late nineteenth-century mystics like Dickinson and Hopkins, as well the great converts of that period like Newman and Chesterton.

A conscious attempt was made to meet both the standards of academia and the tastes and sensibilities of the faithful.

The selections are arranged chronologically to serve also as a history of verse.