Library › Latin: Early Christian Writings › De Diligendo Deo
This anonymous treatise on loving God, in eighteen chapters, begins by urging the reader to learn with vigilant care the way by which hell may be escaped and heaven gained, and finds that way in Paul’s words that God has prepared ineffable things for those who love him: love is the road to life. Love of God, the author adds, cannot be had without love of neighbour. The work then explains why and how God is to be loved, considering the dignity of the soul and recounting the benefits of God: creation, redemption, the call to faith, the gift of virtues, and God’s constant care. One chapter describes how the Creator gave things such varied qualities that each of the senses finds its own delights.
The treatise belongs to the meditative literature of the central Middle Ages that circulated under the name of Augustine, and Migne printed it among his spurious works. Its theme of rising to the love of God through gratitude for his gifts is typical of twelfth-century devotional writing. Its author and date are uncertain, and it is likely a compilation drawing on earlier sources. It is nonetheless a clear and orderly example of medieval meditation on divine love.
About this edition. The Latin text comes from Corpus Corporum, the Latin text repository of the University of Zurich (edition: Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 40, Parisiis 1841), reused with attribution for non-commercial purposes (CC BY-NC-SA). Every word has been analyzed with LatinCy, a neural language model for Latin — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from Lewis & Short’s A Latin Dictionary.