Customer Reviews

Twenty Tales of Irish Saints

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This book would be good for building up the pride of especially Irish American boys. While there is one 9 page chapter on St. Brigid out of this 20 chapter 178 page book, most are of Irish priests who went sailing elsewhere as missionaries or who dealt with scary situations. The writing is not particularly good, though it is not bad writing. The version I read was published in 1955. I have found that a number of books on saints written before Vatican II were not written as well as those written after Vatican II, though I do not know the reason for that. Maybe before Vatican II reading books on saints was more popular, so the writing did not have to have the same quality for selling as those written after that time. There are very few pictures in this book and the ones which are there are black and white, so the child would need to be of an age where pictures are not important.
This book includes stories on the following saints:
Adamnan.......Benignus.......Brendan.......Brigid.......Canice.......Ciaran.......Colman of Kilmacduagh.......Colman-Elo.......Columbanus.......Columcille.......Cormac.......Finbarr.......Finnian.......Flannan.......Gall.......Laurence O'Toole.......Modomnoc.......Patrick.......Thaddeus MacCarthy.......The monk who heard the bird sing for 150 years.

Twenty Tales of Irish Saints by Alice Curtayne is a delightful book for people of all ages. Fascinating, interesting, and edifying, you will not want to put this book down.

The author puts finishing polish on each story so that it's bedside-ready for telling to your children. You don't have to be a teacher or experienced storyteller to make the story understandable and accessible to young minds. She includes any explanations, context, or other necessary information before the story proper. Moreover, like any good storyteller, she piques the interest of the reader (or listener) before she tells the story.

The tales themselves are delightful. Most are edifying as well as enthralling. Again and again we meet with fervent Irish men wanting to serve God in the most complete manner by becoming a priest -- and pursuing that goal with typical Irish zeal. We see heroic examples of trust in God, obedience, the virtue of religion, and many other virtues. The book is a cross-section of the Golden Age of Ireland, when the Emerald Isle's main export was fervent Catholic priests.

Reading this book was a real pleasure. I would highly recommended it to Catholics who want to become acquainted with sanctity. Reading about these saints helps us to know how a real saint speaks and behaves, and we are edified by their behavior. Getting acquainted with these early Irish saints helps us develop a deeper love and appreciation for the Catholic Faith, which meant so much to these holy men and women that they were willing to give up everything for it. It would be even more special for those who have some Irish heritage.

I recently had the pleasure of reading Twenty Tales of Irish Saints by Alice Curtayne. This book is a lovely collection of legends about some of Irelands saints.

I found all of the tales to be well written and quite delightful. My nine year old daughter has been enjoying reading about Ireland's saints. She's used to reading books about saints that are a bit more dry, so she was surprised at the lighter tone of this book. Of course, just because this book is fun doesn't mean your child won't be learning about the saints. Children who read these stories will still learn what makes these twenty saints so special and how they chose to serve our Lord.

This book is best suited to an older child who will happily read a book that isn't illustrated. There are many little illustrations worked into the capital letters that are "illuminated" throughout the book, but there are no full page illustrations found in the book. The lack of illustrations does not detract from the book in my opinion, but I know such things are important to some people when they are looking for a book for their child.

I found the author's storytelling to be very engaging. A child who is interested in reading about saints and Ireland will be sure to delight in reading this book. I liked that my child was able to learn a bit about her Irish heritage while reading this book. I believe the original intended audience of this book was Irish children based on the fact that the author makes many references to regions of Ireland and local customs that she references the reader already knowing about. In those instances, a reader who is not native to the emerald isle may feel like they're out of the loop. I suppose when it comes to references to specific regions, it might not be a bad idea to have a map of Ireland so your child could plot out where in Ireland each saint lived.

Overall, it's a nice book that is sure to captivate and enthrall many young minds.

I was provided with a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher, Sophia Institute Press, in exchange for my honest review.

Wonderful stories @ Irish saints, some quite obscure. NOT a picture book for little kids, age range is prob. 5-10.

I read this book when I was ten years old; and I remember feeling sad when it ended. My mother was from Ireland and my father was American Irish, thus the saints were a part of our family life. In those days most of the stories of saints were of bigger-than-life characters from Italy, Spain or France. Awareness of the Irish saints was hard to find.
After I read the book, and reported to my fifth grade class, each of my parents read it: they shared a similar delight.

I have read my book many times over the past fifty years. I was delighted to find this new issue in bookstores. As a teacher I often read the stories to my classes, even at the university level, because they are so rich in cultivating a sense of history and imagination. These are not rich in historical detail, but set the heart afire with the special use of folklore. While some may see these tales as childish, I would disagree. These are charming tales that folks of any age, particularly the Irish, will enjoy, and enjoy, and enjoy.

THOMAS PATRICK HULL,
CHICAGO