Beahn, John E
A Novel Based on the Life of Saint Thomas More
by John Edward Beahn
Status and wealth, power and fame: St. Thomas More had them all. As a wise and popular statesman, internationally recognized scholar, and Lord Chancellor of England, More was perhaps the most highly respected Englishman of his day until his conscience required that he lay down his life for his Catholic faith. A Man Born Again, as twenty-first-century political trends call for heroic Catholic resistance to government assault upon the Church.
Paperback, 272 pages
A Man of Good Zeal
A Novel Based on the Life of Saint Francis de Sales
by John Edward Beahn
St. Francis was born in 1567 in Savoy, a duchy of the western Alps whose fortunes were largely shaped by developments in neighbouring France, Switzerland, and Italy. Military and political conflicts there were heightened and complicated by religious tensions between Catholics and Protestants, whose leader John Calvin had settled in nearby Geneva and won a following in some districts of Savoy as well. Francis aristocratic father had great plans to position him for rapid advancement in this turbulent setting: He sent the young man to law school, manoeuvered for his appointment as a senator, and chose a noble heiress as his future wife—but God had other plans.
This book tells the inspiring story of how Francis risked his life to win thousands back to the Catholic faith, transformed the Diocese of Geneva as its bishop, and wrote the spiritual classics that eventually led Rome to name him a Doctor of the Church.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 252 pages
A Novel Based on the Life of Saint Anthony of Padua
by John Edward Beahn
St. Anthony of Padua has been a friend to millions of Catholics asking his help to recover lost objects. But few seem to know much about his remarkable life. The son of a knight in the court of Portugal's king, he renounced his heritage of wealth and power to become a Franciscan priest. In the years to come, he earned international fame as a preacher, reformer, miracle worker, champion of the poor, and Doctor of the Church.
The tale unfolds in the epic setting of medieval Europe of the thirteenth century. Monarchs, courtiers, churchmen, knights, nobles and serfs manoeuver like chess pieces in an elaborate game of alliances and conflicts between Church and state, Christian and Muslim, Catholic and heretic. Anthony's story takes us from North Africa where divine providence saved the young friar from his mistaken zeal for martyrdom to Italy and France, where his extraordinary gifts and heroic passion for God blazed a path to the rescue and conversion of countless souls.
This novel paints a rich, fascinating portrait of an astonishing saint who turned the medieval Christian world upside down.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 348 pages
A Novel Based on the Life of Saint Patrick
by John Edward Beahn
The story of St. Patrick's life is a dynamic tale of high drama and intense spiritual force. A generation ago, the American Catholic novelist John Edward Beahn retold that story as a biographical novel based on The Confessions, Patrick's famous autobiographical work. A Man Cleansed by God: A Novel on St. Patrick's Confessionwas published in 1959, a vivid narrative with intriguing speculations about the details of Patrick's experience that have been lost to history.
St. Patrick's life was a series of heroic adventures: Captured as a young teen by pirates and taken from his comfortable life in ancient Roman Britain, he was sold as a slave in Ireland. Six years later he escaped, and after a long, arduous journey, he returned to his family—only to receive a call from God to go back to Ireland as a Christian missionary.
Trained and ordained as a priest, and ultimately consecrated a bishop, he returned at last to Ireland. There, his bold preaching brought many thousands into the Christian fold and led to the establishment of numerous churches and religious communities.
Yet even with such remarkable success, Patrick faced stiff opposition and persecution: He had to defend himself against the intrigues and false charges of both religious and political enemies, who on one occasion even went so far as to rob him of all he possessed, beat him severely, and put him in chains.
A second generation of readers are sure to be delighted by this TAN Legend edition of A Man Cleansed by God: A Novel Based on the Life of St. Patrick, an unforgettable portrait of the fifth-century saint who changed Ireland forever.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 230 pages
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