Saints' Lives - Collections

While many books focus on clerical leaders, They Lived the Faith looks at laity, who worked in politics, literature, and social life to bring the light of the Gospel to ameliorate society’s evils. Featuring biographies of Daniel O’Connel, Count Montalembert, Ludwig Windhorst, Gabriel Garcia Moreno, Bl. Pauline Jaricot, Bl. Frédéric Ozanam, Albert de Mun, Joseph de Maistre, Joseph Görres, Donoso Cortés, Orestes Brownson, Luis Veuillot, and Wilfrid Ward.

In this work, you will learn how these thirteen Catholic lay leaders confronted the aftermath of the French Revolution; attempted to address Church and State relations; fought the onslaught of Liberalism, Socialism, and Communism; and so much more.

Paperback, size 9" x 6", 444 pages

Also available in Hardback (with dust jacket) on request (additional cost)

Modern Saints II
Their Lives and Faces
by Ann Ball

Saints are not phenomena of the past; they are with us in all eras of the Church's life, for God does not leave His Church bereft of holy witnesses. In this second volume of Modern Saints: Their Lives and Faces, Ann Ball provides brief but substantive biographies on 45 saints, blesseds, and other holy men and women from the past two centuries. Included for each is a portrait, typically an actual photograph—a true blessing for Catholics of our time. This volume contains the lives and faces of saints including:

Let these holy men and women, so close to us in time, bring guidance and encouragement on your earthly sojourn, as we wait to join them in Heaven with God and all of his elect from throughout the ages. Impr.

Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 510 pages, 177 Illus

St. Joseph Picture Book Series, Part 11 of 12 books on the "Super-Heroes of God"--commonly known as Saints--by beloved author Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D. introduces Catholic children to 15 of the most well-known Saints. Among the features of this book are:

• a full-color illustration of each Saint
• short, easy-to-understand lives of the Saints that offer a window on what made them so special in the eyes of God
• the feast day for each Saint in accordance with the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church
• concluding prayer.

St. Joseph Picture Book Series, Part 10 of 12 books on the "Super-Heroes of God"--commonly known as Saints--by beloved author Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D. introduces Catholic children to 15 of the most well-known Saints. Among the features of this book are:

• a full-color illustration of each Saint
• short, easy-to-understand lives of the Saints that offer a window on what made them so special in the eyes of God
• the feast day for each Saint in accordance with the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church
• concluding prayer.

• Author's biography  
• Entries for St. Joseph (not inserted into the Roman Canon until 1962) and the Prophet Isaias (apparently overlooked in the original edition)
• 15 pictures
• Latin-English texts of the Roman Missal wherein the Saints are mentioned
• Extracts from the Roman Martytrology for each Saint

This easy-to-read book is perfect for any Catholic who would like to gain a better appreciation and devotion to the Saints who pray with us during the Mass!

Booklet, size 8.5" x 5.5", 74 pages, Illustrated

• The mercenary fighting man and itinerant gambler who left behind his rough soldier's habits and founded a religious order to care for the sick
• The backward, sickly teenager, disowned by his family and dogged by the Inquisition, who became a miraculous healer and paragon of humble simplicity
• The willful Tuscan beauty with a bad reputation who forsook vanity and lust to answer God's call to live in poverty and penitence<
• The brilliant, brooding Spanish nobleman who gave up everything to be a missionary only to see most of his efforts fail
• The royal chaplain and daring Counter-Reformer who escaped the gallows but had to endure a lifelong interior martyrdom of doubt and discouragement
• The hedonistic heretic and womanizer who traded worldly pleasure for divine happiness, and became one of the Church's greatest theologians
• And other inspiring tales of imperfect souls "made perfect in infirmity"

The saints Sheed chose for this collection are from various time periods: six before A.D. 500, seventeen from then to the Reformation, and seventeen from the Reformation to the middle of the twentieth century. Many are well known, like St. Anthony, Francis, Augustine, Patrick and Bernadette, while others are lesser known, for example, Columcille and Malachy.

The same can be said for the various authors of these short biographies. Among them are the famous like Hilaire Belloc, Alban Goodier and G.K. Chesterton, as well as priests and laymen whose names may no longer be familiar but whose writing still brings to life men and women whose closeness to God gave them purpose, strength, and yes, joy.

“The best way to celebrate the saints is to imitate them. Why not try to live as they did, if only for one day, their day, the day consecrated and blessed by the Church, when they are ‘on duty’ to help us?”—Monsignor Ghika

This book of daily meditations is the second volume released in a four-volume series entitled Praying with the Saints by Season: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. These books serve as a brief daily guide to following in the footsteps of the saints through the liturgical year as well as on our life-long journey to eternity. The example of a new saint everyday will surely direct and motivate souls to a deeper union with God and a habitual higher level of sanctity. 
Begin your day with the following inspiration:
• Life of the Saint 
• Brief Meditation 
• Prayers 
• Thoughts
• Invocations 
• and Three Resolutions to aid in concrete, daily, spiritual growth.

If you are looking for a way to integrate prayer or spiritual reading into your daily life or want a daily reminder that sanctity is not only achievable but in fact our sole purpose here on earth then this is a series for you. Short, profound, daily meditations on the saints and the liturgical year by best-selling author Fr. Patrick Troadec.

Paperback, size 7" x 4.25", 240 pages

Heroines of Christ
edited by Fr Joseph Husslein, S.J.

For centuries the Catholic Church has upheld and celebrated her saints among the great holy women of history.  Even from the moment of the Fall of Man, God promised a Redeemer Whose power would conquer sin and reopen to us our heavenly home; and in that moment He also promised us a mother who would be so powerful as to crush the head of Satan and cooperate with her Divine Son in reopening those gates of paradise.  Womankind finds in Christ’s own Virgin Mother the perfect imitation of Christ, and in her is found all the treasures of virtue wanting in every woman.  Fittingly, God’s women saints imitate and copy Our Lady’s greatness through His omnipotent power.  Unlike pagan and Moslem cultures that often demean the female as something more akin to an animal, due to a naturalistic attitude of prizing the superiority of physical strength over spiritual strength, our Holy Mother, the Catholic Church has not hidden those loving sisters of Christ.  She has, conversely, sought to proclaim God’s glory and will through the artful hands of women, knowing full well God’s plan for them as capable of great spiritual strength, and even miraculous physical strength beyond comprehension.  All the while, the holy women in the life of the Church do not overshadow the great men, but rather compliment them beautifully in all their varied rôles.

The book was first published in 1939 and is an anthology of essays by Jesuits, retelling the brilliant histories of fifteen women saints throughout the course of the Catholic Church.  Starting with Saint Agnes in ancient Rome, and finishing with St. Thérèse in the twentieth century, the subjects covered are varietal.  Many geographical locations are visited, and almost every era of the Church and station in life are the setting for the accounts.  In storybook fashion, the various authors give inspiring and often dramatic accounts of these saints’ lives.  As the preface is forward in stating, the authors had sought to dramatize the events vividly to give the stories life and color.  They do this very well, giving the reader a sense of truly having lived among these women.  One can imagine easily each saint’s various trials and can have, therefore, a greater appreciation of their victories.  This writing is a tool that greatly inspires, because when these true-life stories are laid out in this fashion, one gets a sense of the reality of sainthood and how attainable heroic virtue can be.  After all, many of the same battles fought daily by modern-day women who aspire to holiness are no different than those battles also endured by yesterday’s holy-women

A common theme echoes in each story, which is that each chapter details for the reader the extraordinary love with which these ladies lived their daily lives.  While it is not a surprising reality that men and women who want to increase God’s glory on earth will have in common this great love, it appears obvious that this collection of stories was intended to make a march along this theme.  Heroines of Christ accomplishes well that to love Christ is to do all, lose all, and gain all for Him.

Among these pages, learn how the unwavering love and faithfulness to Christ are qualities which made the difference between any one soul and the souls of the saints.  It is through the example of the female saints that we come to the knowledge of what is truly necessary in the female soul.  If modern woman is to counteract and win the battle over liberalism and feminist philosophies, she must first be armed with the knowledge of the past champions of true femininity.  In their souls flames forth an unwavering constancy to the Christian Faith, and a wholesome obsessive love for Christ.  At first glance, there is nothing more extraordinary in the women saints of God than what is in any other woman’s capability, but due to their virtues, miraculous events and triumphs over the impossible mark their legacies.

The book is unique in that it not only instructs by giving a historical account, like some school-day lecture.  Heroines of Christ also entertains through the literary methods of artistic narration that is vivid in its images and sprinkled with probable dialogue.  Like any good work of historical fiction, the book certainly does give an excellent account of the lives of each saint while keeping the mind of the reader rapt in wonder.  Written in this way, the mind is sure to remember the new exciting details as never before when reading a lives of the saints collection which contains only brief summaries of historical fact.

• Be inspired in your daily life by the attainable marvels that have been the lives of women saints since the time of the early Roman martyrs even until more recent times.
• Be strengthened by these women’s constancy and victorious battles over daily sufferings and the powers of hell.
• Look on as beautiful ladies choose their bridegroom to be Christ rather than highly eligible earthly suitors.
• Wonder as common and obscure folk rise to the great heights of such fame as to be known even among non-Catholics.
• Delight as little girls of no consequence bravely confound great rulers.

This true strength of woman gleams from among the pages of history, through the omnipotent power of Christ and His living Church.  We stand strengthened that so triumphant an army looks down upon us and intercedes for us to do the same, knowing full-well our weaknesses and needs, having had lived them before in greater or lesser degrees.  In reading Heroines of Christ, travel back in time with those women who would one day become saints, and walk with them along the road of this present earth toward sanctity and the reward of heaven.

Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 210 pages

Also available in Hardback with dust jacket upon request (additional cost)

Pious tradition relates the story of St. Dominic's vision of the future of his order. One night, deep in prayer, he was granted a vision of the heavenly court, and the walls of Eternity parted to reveal Our Lord and Our Lady.

Suddenly, Dominic began to weep.

When the Lord asked him why he could be so sorrowful, St. Dominic replied that, although he could see so many members of other orders in heaven, he could find not one Dominican. Ever mirthful, Our Lord then indicated his Mother, saying that the order was in her care. At this, Our Lady raised her mantle and spread it wide, revealing a host of Dominicans so vast it seemed to fill the entire heavenly court. Here, come to know these holy men and women of one of the most privileged groups in history.

In this short volume, you will find out just who these saints are (most are early martyrs), what their special patronages are, and why they are so close to God. The most wonderful aspect of the devotion to the Fourteen Holy Helpers is that it provides an example for how the oldest saints in the Church are never far from us but are always eager to help all generations of Christians. This book shows the greatest link between the earliest centuries of the Church and our own age: the communion of Saints. Most of all, these Fourteen Holy Helpers will not only aid you against all physical maladies but will also protect you from spiritual harm and will show you how to imitate them in ever deeper devotion to Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.

Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 112 pages

“The best way to celebrate the saints is to imitate them. Why not try to live as they did, if only for one day, their day, the day consecrated and blessed by the Church, when they are ‘on duty’ to help us?”—Monsignor Ghika

This book of daily meditations is the third volume released in a four-volume series entitled Praying with the Saints by Season: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. These books serve as a brief daily guide to following in the footsteps of the saints through the liturgical year as well as on our life-long journey to eternity. The example of a new saint everyday will surely direct and motivate souls to a deeper union with God and a habitual higher level of sanctity. 
Begin your day with the following inspiration:
• Life of the Saint 
• Brief Meditation 
• Prayers 
• Thoughts
• Invocations 
• and Three Resolutions to aid in concrete, daily, spiritual growth.

If you are looking for a way to integrate prayer or spiritual reading into your daily life or want a daily reminder that sanctity is not only achievable but in fact our sole purpose here on earth then this is a series for you. Short, profound, daily meditations on the saints and the liturgical year by best-selling author Fr. Patrick Troadec.

Paperback, size 7" x 4.25", 226 pages

Drinking with Saint Nick
Christmas Cocktails for Sinners and Saints
by Michael P. Foley

Raise your spirits and toast Saint Nick!

Hot gin toddies. Smoking rosemary old fashioneds. A "wet" Advent calendar. Now you can experience Christmas the way it was meant to be celebrated: with festive cocktails and a lively history of Saint Nicholas and other saints! Michael Foley, author of Drinking with the Saints, presents holiday drink recipes; beer, wine, and cider recommendations; and witty instruction on how to honour the saints in this exquisite gift book that will make your Christmas more spirited than ever before.

"With lively stories and delicious drink recipes, this book takes us on a rollicking journey through the lives of the saints. What a fun and fabulous way to engage with your faith during the holidays." -- Jennifer Fulwiler, author of One Beautiful Dream and host of the Jennifer Fulwiler Show on the Catholic Channel

Hardcover, size 7.3" x 5.4", 224 pages

Women of Faith is an essential resource for parents, grandparents and godparents wanting to give children a taste of the historical, living Church. This book is a collection of stories of the women saints and martyrs of the early Christian Church. Featuring saints venerated in both Orthodox and Catholic traditions, this book will introduce children to amazing role models of the faith. Showcasing women who were light in a dark time, these stories are filled with courage, beauty and ultimately, a faith in God that transformed the world.

Each saint is featured with a stunning watercolour portrait, a short story from her life and a prayer suitable for young children.

Example:
O Dymphna, you healed many bodies and minds. Comfort me when I am worried. Calm my mind when I am afraid. Pray to God for me that I will think clearly and that I will have your love for people whose minds are ill.

Paperback, size 11" x 8.5", 28 pages

Saints Who Raised the Dead
True Stories of 400 Resurrection Miracles
by Fr. Albert J. Hebert, SM

"Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death and to those in the tombs granting life!"

When Christ rose from the grave, the curse of fallen nature—death—was overturned; His death and resurrection marked the final victory over sin and evil. For the God-Man knew His way out of the grave, and the chains of Hell could not hold Him down. 

Through the ages, Christ's Saints have manifested the glorious grace of miraculous resurrections, restoring to life those who have died and working wonders at times even greater than the Lord Himself—as He promised us in the Gospels.

Witness 400 miracles from such towering figures of sanctity as:

• Patrick
• Elizabeth of Hungary
• Catherine of Siena
• Teresa of Avila
• Francis Xavier
• Rose of Lima
• John Bosco
• And so many more!

In addition, readers will find descriptions of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, as well as other after-death experiences. 

When Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, he set the prototype for the most glorious kind of miracle he could grant His saints to perform: resurrection. Let these true accounts fill you with awe at the majesty of God, Who laughs, "O Death, where now is thy sting?"

Formerly published by TAN under the title "Raised from the Dead".

Paperback, 358 pages

• Martyr of Christ - St Issac Jogues,
• Quest of Honour, - Fr de Smet
• The Great Sorcerer - Fr John de Brebeuf,
• Saviour of Vincennes - Fr Pierre Gibault,
• Lady in Grey - St Marguerite D'Youville,
• America’s Mother Seton - St Elizabeth Seton,
• Faith was His Sword - Fr Junipero Serra,
• Revolt in the Sun - Fra Francisco Garces,
• Mexican Martyr - Fr Miguel Pro.

The Seraphic Order
A Traditional Franciscan Book of Saints
by Fr Marion A. Habig, OFM and Sr Aquinas Barth 

Among the followers of St. Francis there were saints and teachers who were endowed by God with a natural and supernatural kinship with their holy founder. They developed the Franciscan spirituality which had its origin in the simple practical life and the rules of St. Francis; and they gave further, clearer expression to it both by their lives and their writings. Thus they pointed out the characteristic traits of Franciscan spirituality, both in a practical and a theoretical way.

Concerning the distinctive features of Franciscan spirituality, as contained in the Franciscan tradition, suffice it to say that its essence is doctrinal Christocentrism and practical imitation of Christ, conformity with Christ, prompted by love. Distinctive aspects of Franciscan piety are childlike love of God, our Father, devotion to the Humanity of Christ, His Sacred Heart, the Holy Eucharist, the mysteries of the Nativity and the Passion, His Virgin Mother Mary, and reverence for the Catholic priesthood. Franciscan love of God finds expression also in charity to our fellowmen, understanding them as our brothers, especially in aid to the poor and sick and in apostolic zeal for souls, Christian and pagan. Total poverty detaches the Franciscan soul from creatures, but at the same time it recognizes God in created things and uses the latter to mount to God. Emphasis is placed on the will, and hence on love and action above speculation. The atmosphere in which the Franciscan spirit develops is one of individual freedom of the spirit, absence of coercive and confining methods, love of enterprise, and a sense of realism. On the path of this traditional Franciscan way of life many have attained sainthood.

Thus, The Seraphic Order, which recounts their lives and virtues, can well serve as a practical textbook of Franciscan spirituality.

Paperback, 1026 pages

Also available in Hardcover upon request (additional cost)