Customer Reviews

Modern Saints Their Lives and Faces: Book Two

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This is Volume One of a Two volume set. 458 Pp. PB. Impr. 175 Illus. Stories of 55 saints, beati, and holy people of the past 200 years, along with their pictures; most are actual photographs. Sanctity in our own time. Includes St. Gemma Galgani, St. Bernadette, St. Maria Goretti, St. John Neumann, St. Gabriel Possenti, Padre Pio, Edith Stein, St. Peter Julian Eymard, St.Frances Cabrini, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. John Bosco, Charles de Foucauld, St. Dominic Savio, and many, many more. Will bring hours and hours of pleasure and entertainment to the entire family. A book you just cannot stop reading!!

Each chapter is a synopsis of the life of a Catholic saint or venerable person who lived some time in the last few centuries. Photos of almost every saint are included. This is a great introduction to some modern saints, and will certainly challenge us with examples of holiness in the modern world.

This is the first source I'd recommend for teenagers or adults wanting to learn more about real people who have been declared Saint or Blessed by the Church.

Both volumes of this set focus on "Modern Saints" (of the past 150 years or so) and each story is complemented by photographs of the Saint - reinforcing the truth that the Saints aren't just about ancient history, but were living, breathing people just like us. They each struggled with challenges and difficulties of their own time and place, but each have experiences and make choices that are relevant to us today.

I really enjoy reading about the saints lives, and this collection of biographies is one of the best that I have found. The author puts a unique voice into each of the biographies, and has clearly researched deeply into the lives of the saints, citing interviews with acquaintances and family members as well as some of the saint's lesser known personality traits. The bios are also highly entertaining with the many stories that they author shares. I have found that these biographies make the saints come alive for me - in that they portray the saints as real people, who struggled from real problems, and overcame them through their devout faith to Christ and his Church.

I have read all of Ann Ball's books on the saints and enjoyed this book and the second book by the same name the most. Understanding their history and the context for the saints lives and beliefs helped me to understand that sainthood is attainable. There were excellent photos of many of the saints which brought them, as individuals, alive. The only frustration I had with the book is that some of the information about individual saints is very sparse and left me, like a small bowl of popcorn, wanting more!
I am only sorry that there are no more of her books left for me to read.

This is volume 2 of the 2 volume work.

510 Pp. PB. Impr. 177 Illus. 45 saints, beati, and other holy people of the past 200 years, and their pictures; most are actual photographs. Sanctity in our own time. Includes the Cure of Ars, St. Catherine Laboure, St. Therese the Little Flower, St. Pius X, Vens. Jacinta and Francisco Marto, Dom Columba Marmion, St. Elizabeth Seton, Pauline Jaricot, Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity, Sr. Josefa Menedez, St. Joseph Cafasso, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, St. Vincent Pallotti, Theresa Neumann, and many more. Shows there are people living today who will one day be canonized Saints.