Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380–1471) was a German-Dutch canon regular of the late medieval period and a leading figure of the Devotio Moderna, the renewal movement that called Christians to a deeply personal, interior devotion to Christ. He spent nearly his entire adult life at the monastery of Mount St. Agnes in the Netherlands, copying manuscripts, writing, and directing souls.
He is universally remembered as the author of The Imitation of Christ, the most widely read Christian devotional book after the Bible — a work whose quiet counsel to follow Jesus in humility, detachment, and love has formed saints for six centuries. Ascension publishes The Imitation of Christ in its Catholic Classics line, and the book has been guided chapter by chapter for modern listeners through Ascension’s Catholic Classics podcast.
