Guidance to Heaven

Guidance to Heaven by Cardinal Giovanni Bona was published in 1658
in Latin under the title Manuductio ad coelum, meaning literally, "Guidance
to Heaven." It enjoyed wide popularity, going through fourteen Latin
editions in forty years. It has been translated into Italian, French, English,
German, Spanish and Armenian. The present translation was completed in
1852 under the title, The Hand that Leads to Heaven, and another English
translation was published in London in 1900 under the title, A Guide to
Eternity. The present English edition is adapted from the 1852 translation
published by James Duffy & Sons, London in 1881 with the translator's
original dedicatory introduction.
Is this book better than The Imitation of Christ, or does it replace The
Spiritual Combat—to both of which Catholic classics it has been compared?
Hardly! On the other hand, does either of these singularly beneficial books
perform anywhere near so well the essential function that Guidance to
Heaven does in focusing our minds on the true Catholic attitude toward
life? Not at all! A reading of Guidance to Heaven has the potential of
transforming the entire orientation of a person's life. . .of causing
conversions or reconversions to the Catholic Faith, of promoting vocations
to the priesthood or religious life and of making serious Catholics out of the
tepid. Truly, there is no other book we know quite like Guidance to Heaven
for this remarkable contribution.