The most important work of the devotio moderna movement, Thomas à Kempis's classic, The Imitation of Christ, is saturated with Scripture and classical philosophy and reveals a deep understanding of human nature. Matthew Arnold called it "the most exquisite document, after those of the New Testament, of all that the Christian spirit has ever inspired."

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) was a monk at Mt. St. Agnes in the Netherlands. Thomas worked principally at copying and writing. A number of his treatises on the monastic life and little devotional essays have been translated into English, including the great devotional work The Imitation of Christ (c. 1427).