Customer Reviews

Saints and Angels

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The thing I love about a religious book for children published by a big house like Houghton Mifflin is that you know the artwork will be superb. Beautiful illuminations, drawings, icons, full page reproductions and details from medieval and renaissance art fill the 64 pages.

The difficulty I have as a Catholic is that I find the text seems to be attempting a forced denominational neutrality. The word Catholic is barely ever used although, arguably, the entire topic of the book should be acknowledged as the domain of the Catholic Church. After all, would Orthodox Christians include St. Bernadette and St. Thomas Aquinas in their book of saints? Would the Anglicans, who also venerate saints, include St. Elizabeth Ann Seton whom many of them shunned after "defecting" to the Catholic Church? And Protestants would be surprised to hear that St. Raphael is stated to be mentioned in the Bible (p. 51) when he is only mentioned in the Catholic Bible. At the end of the book a calendar of feast days is presented. This is basically from the new Roman Rite of the Mass. So it is a "loud silence" to me that the book is not more true to a Catholic understanding of the Saints.

Here's an example of text which I have great trouble reading to my son, word for word, on page 7: "Mary knew about Jesus' ascension into heaven. Many Christians believe that she, too, was taken into heaven." The trouble that I have is that, as a Catholic, I believe that the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is an article of the true faith which must be believed. Catholics with a devotion to Mary might also be irritated that the author states that Mary was "frightened" when Jesus was arrested. It's just not the way we generally talk about Our Lady.

I feel it a bit of a shame to bring these points up because there is also quite a bit of good stuff in here. For example, Mary is listed as the first saint and the article includes all the major events of Mary's life - her betrothal, her "fiat", the birth of Christ, the miracle at Cana, etc. It contains great lines like "Mary loved Jesus with all of her heart". Page 6 is a gorgeous icon of the Madonna and child. Whoever designed this did their homework - that's why I say "close, but no cigar."

Some more examples follow:

--> St. Peter is said to have become the "leader of the Christian church." I agree with this statement; however I would add that Roman Catholics believe that St. Peter is the first Pope. The end of the article reads "His tomb is said to lie in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome". This would seem to be a bit weak to a serious Catholic before 1950, but after the discovery of the tomb in that year the statement is overly questioning.

--> Most good, Catholic saint books explain that the modern "Santa Claus" is at best a corruption of the fourth century Bishop and Martyr, St. Nicholas. This book exclaims "Today he has become the secret visitor who leaves presents for good children." Ugh.

--> St. Thomas the Apostle: "He is said to have been a missionary in India..." Again - very weakly put. There are Christians in India who trace their spiritual lineage back to St. Thomas.

In conclusion I'm going to take a stab in the dark, a wild guess. Suppose someone originally wrote this the way a crotchety old Cat'lic like me would like. Then an editor came by and said "Too Catholic". So things were edited for ecumenism's sake and this is the result. The other possibility is that a real sincere effort was made to take a Catholic topic but present it as generically as possible, while still maintaining the reverence and respect that non-Catholic Christians generally have for Catholic devotion. I'm sorry I can't give higher marks for Catholics. Again: I sure love those pictures. But because this is a religious book targeted to children during their formative years I'm holding it up to a higher standard.

Mr. Fry's review is right on. I bought this book because the illustrations are exceptionally beautiful and the text is most readable, however upon reading about our guardian angels, for example, the text says things like, 'some Christians believe in their existence.' If I were to read something like that to a class of young students, what kind of impression would that leave in their mind? That belief in guardian angels is optional?! Needless to say, I did not read that page to the students. Bummer though. It's such a lovely book. How about somebody takes the strengths of this book and combine them with the full-strength version of what it means to be Catholic? Now, that would be something to write home about!

This book is beautifully done- the illustrations of saints and martyrs are rich in detail and color while the text provides a very good background of information for kids and adults. My children (6 and 4) love paging through this book, studying the pictures and reading interesting details about each saint. It is an integral part of our homeschool library.

Incidentally, we gave a copy as a baptismal gift and were thrilled that our friends' older kids (3-9yrs)actually asked "Where is the Saints book?" and then were huddled around it.

The stories of the saints in this book are wonderful, sharing more of their personality and spirituality than their biography. So that in one page of reading/saint you feel like you have gotten to know them a little as people. But the paintings are from artists of the 1400's-1700's, with some paintings before and some after this time. I don't think, looking back on my interests as an older elementary school student, that I would be at all interested in this art work. It would appeal much more to adults. And for adults the artwork would be considered splendid! The sections in this book are: Holy Family, Followers of Jesus, Gospel Writers, Martyrs, Great Thinkers and Evangelists, Peace and Healing, Angels, Archangels. It also includes a calendar of feast days and glossary. As are the stories of the saints who are included in this book Saint: Agnes. . . . . . . Andrew

. . . . . . . Anne. . . . . . . Archangel Gabriel . . . . . . . Archangel Michael. . . . . . . Archangel Raphael. . . . . . .Augustine. . . . . . .Bernadette. . . . . . .

Catherine of Alexandria. . . . . . . Cecilia. . . . . . . Christopher . . . . . . . Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton. . . . . . . Elizabeth of Hungary. . . . . . .Frances Xavier Cabrini . . . . . . .Francis of Assisi. . . . . . .Joan of Arc. . . . . . .John the Baptist. . . . . . .John. . . . . . .Joseph. . . . . . .Katherine Drexel. . . . . . .Luke. . . . . . . Mark. . . . . . .Mary Magdalene. . . . . . . Matthew. . . . . . .Nicholas . . . . . . .Patrick. . . . . . .Paul. . . . . . . Peter. . . . . . .Rose of Lima

. . . . . . .Sebastian. . . . . . . Stephen. . . . . . .Teresa of Avila. . . . . . .Thomas Acquinas . . . . . . .Thomas. . . . . . .Virgin Mary . . . . . . .