Customer Reviews

Saints for Now

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The book is a collection of biographies of saints written by friends of Clare Booth Luce. It begins with an engaging introductory essay by Ms. Luce on the question: What is a Saint? It follows with 20 biographies on 19 different saints (two cover St. John of the Cross). Each essay focuses on the "timeliness" of the saint's life. Authors include Alfred Noyes, Evelyn Waugh (quite good on St. Helena the Empress), Whittaker Chambers and Thomas Merton (on St. John of the Cross). Especially interesting are the entries on St. Thomas Moore (by Barbara Ward) and St. Therese of Lisieux (by Karl Stern). Several unusual saints are covered: St. Radegund (by E.I. Watkin), forced to wed Clothaire the Beast, St. Hilda of Whitby (by Sister Madeleva), who brought poetry to the English language, and St. Simeon Stylites (by George Lamb) the saint of doing, well, nothing. Do not miss Bruce Marshall's telling of life of the Cure of Ars. This book is well worth the read.

While most books on saints draw you into their lives and leave the preaching to be done by the life of each saint (in how they lived out their lives) this book does just the opposite. To give you an example of what I mean, let me quote the following from this book on page 121 about St. Francis of Assisi:
"Francis had pets, a lamb, a pheasant, a rabbit, a cicada, a dog, a wolf, but upon honest and unsentimental terms. For he was as polite and considerate to an earthworm, a slug, a bird, a beetle or a mole, as amusedly tolerant and withal, understanding and warmly loving as one would be to one's brothers and sisters. He called them so, not with the pious emptiness the words have come to connote in modern times, but with the deep conviction of the kinship.
It is told of him that he would stoop to remove an earthworm from his path so as not to crush it. One feels that with Francis it was a personal as well as symbolic courtesy to something living he happened to encounter.
There appears to be a touch of the child's world of fancy in this but it is really an intensely practical way of life aboard an overpopulated planet, and what is more, it has the great advantage of beauty over ugliness. Looking back to the daily joy and happiness that Francis managed to crowd into the forty-four years of his life it is not at all difficult to understand that it is better to be kind than unkind and to be generous and accommodating instead of rude and possessive. This is not childish. It is one of the most adult discoveries ever made."
If this is the kind of retelling of the saints lives that you want, then this is a good book for you. If you are looking for something different, then please feel free to check out my review of over 20 other books on the saints which I found to be much better.

This has become one of my new favorite book on the Saints. My copy was published in 1952, with artwork included that reflects that time (not sure if it is in the Ignatius version), and many of the authors of this collection were well-known at the time. Each author, including Thomas Merton and Kathleen Norris, were given free reign on which saint they wanted to write about, and for whatever reason they desired. The result if a mixed bag of reflections, some more inspiring than others. That said, the introduction alone is a powerful testimony to the fact that God lives in His body, the Church of Christ through His saints. Some of them, like St. Helena, are canonized for one major deed, such as the finding of the cross. Others, like St Theresa the Little Flower, found the cross in the splinters of daily life that we all too often turn into the seeds of bitterness and petty resentments that choke out the seeds of grace. A great collection that has stood the test of time, just like the saints themselves.

This is one of the best book on the lives of the saints ever written. The biographies are presented in the author's lively writing style for the modern reader. The saints selected have had a profound effect on religious thinking, and their lives are described in a way that relates well to life today, hence, the title. Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Augustine are among the outstanding choices in this work. I cannot recommend it highly enough.