Episode 539: Spiritual Combat - Introduction

The introduction frames The Spiritual Combat as a product of the 16th‑century Southern European religious revival that followed the Great Schism, highlighting the Theatine Order—founded in 1524 by Saint Caetan of Thiene and Bishop Carafa—as its origin. It notes the order’s missionary zeal, its connection to figures such as John Petro Carafa (later Pope Paul IV) and Ignatius Loyola, and presents Lorenzo Scapoli, a Theatine cleric who, after a distinguished preaching career and a later period of seclusion caused by an unknown calumny, authored the work. The Spiritual Combat—originally published anonymously to appear as a collective Theatine teaching—offers a practical, concise manual of spiritual exercises likening the Christian life to a soldier’s battle against sin, and its authorship is firmly attributed to Scapoli despite historic disputes.

From the book Spiritual Combat by Lorenzo Scupoli

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