Memoirs Saints

While St. Francis of Assisi is one of the most beloved saints in history, the relevancy of St. Francis for our times in light of the election of Pope Francis has yet to be explored. This book is written with the intention of filling that gap. While it is biographical in nature, it also freely explores themes that relate to St. Francis but are not a part of his life.

An introduction to the life, ministry, and spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, this book also emphasizes the importance of a personal experience of God.

The spring of 1903 proved disastrous for the Murphy family. On April 22, the infant Ruth Murphy died in her crib. Within an hour, her mother, Gertrude, experienced a violent spasm before she, too, died. Ten days later, John Murphy followed his wife and child to the grave after suffering from a crippling convulsion. While neighbors whispered about a curse and physicians feared a contagious disease, Kalkaska County sheriff John W. Creighton and prosecuting attorney Ernest C. Smith searched for answers. As they probed deeper into the suspicious deaths, they uncovered a wicked web of intrigue.

Among all the various figures in 19th century America who left controversial legacies, it is hard to find one as influential as Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Mormonism, and the Latter-Day Saint movement. Revered as a prophet on the level of Moses by some, reviled as a perpetrator of large-scale fraud by others, what everyone can agree on is that Joseph Smith founded a religious movement that played a crucial role in the settlement of the West, especially in Utah.

Learn about the life of Saint Martin De Porres.

In Saint Augustine's Confessions, he writes about how much he regrets having led a sinful and immoral life. He discusses his regrets for following the Manichaean religion and believing in astrology. He writes about Nebridius's role in helping to persuade him that astrology was not only incorrect but evil, and Saint Ambrose's role in his conversion to Christianity.

St. Therese of Lisieux, largely unknown when she died in a Carmelite convent at the age of 24, became, through her posthumously published autobiography, one of the world's most influential religious figures. No less a luminary than Andre Gide modeled one of his characters after her in his novel Strait is the Gate.

Are you curious how a clinically depressed teacher, who coached wrestling, transformed a group of forgotten teenagers into champions? After being discharged from a psychiatric care unit, on anti-depressants, and with no job prospects, a lost man from the Pacific Northwest, reluctantly moved to Southern California.

As “Mormon royalty” within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Martha Beck was raised in a home frequented by the Church’s high elders—known as the apostles—and her existence was framed by their strict code of conduct. Wearing her sacred garments, she married in a secret temple ceremony—but only after two Mormon leaders ascertained that her “past contained no flirtation with serious sins, such as committing murder or drinking coffee.” She went to church faithfully with the other brothers and sisters of her ward.

Nearly every detail about Luke the Evangelist's life has been the subject of heated debate. The scholars of one era have provided explanations that entirely contradict the scholars of an earlier era.

St. Maria Goretti was only a child when she died a martyr’s death. Yet today, she inspires millions who find in her a perfect model of purity and holiness. Listen here about her great holiness in the midst of tremendous suffering, how she died at the hands of a vicious murderer who tried to defile her purity, and how she visited this very same murderer years later in his jail cell to forgive him.

If the saints have never made you laugh or drop your jaw, they will in this book. Best-selling author Shaun McAfee (Reform Yourself!, Filling Our Father’s House) and guest writers illustrate how the saints were not just stone-faced old men. Some of them had quirky habits and outrageous personalities and did breathtaking deeds...but they all had epic faith.

Saint Alphonsus Ligouri begins a life in the courts of law. His father had him trained to become a lawyer. By the time he was 16 years old, he was so proficient in his studies, he received a degree of Doctor of Laws. And this came about in spite of the fact that the required age to receive such a degree was no younger than 20 years of age. Although his father's focus was to groom him for the world, his mother, who was highly spiritual, was the loving instrument who would prepare him for a future life as Jesus and Mary's troubadour.

In Breaking van Gogh, James Grundvig investigates the history and authenticity of van Gogh's iconic Wheat Field with Cypresses. Relying on a vast array of techniques from the study of the painter's biography and personal correspondence to the examination of the painting's style and technical characteristics, Grundvig proves that the "most expensive purchase" housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is a fake.

In 1384, a poor and illiterate peasant woman named Ermine moved to the city of Reims with her elderly husband. Her era was troubled by war, plague, and schism within the Catholic Church, and Ermine could easily have slipped unobserved through the cracks of history. After the loss of her husband, however, things took a remarkable but frightening turn. For the last 10 months of her life, Ermine was tormented by nightly visions of angels and demons.

While a young man, Devi Mukherjee worked with Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian resistance movement and was imprisoned for five months. After release, Devi began a spiritual quest throughout India, traveling some 45 years at various times.

Before he was the world's foremost Catholic biographer, Joseph Pearce was a leader of the National Front, a British nationalist, white supremacist group. Before he published books highlighting and celebrating the great Catholic cultural tradition, he disseminated literature extolling the virtues of the white race and calling for the banishment of all non-whites from Britain. In Race with the Devil: My Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love, Pearce himself takes the listener through his journey from racist revolutionary to Christian.

Juan de Yepes Álvarez, su verdadero nombre, conocido en su época de estudiante con el nombre de fray Juan de Santo Matía y más tarde como San Juan de la Cruz, fue un poeta místico y un religioso carmelita descalzo del Renacimiento español, que desde 1952 es el Patrono de los poetas en lengua española.

« Le docteur a dit qu’il n’y avait plus rien à faire. » Nous sommes en 1943 à La Malbaie. À 6 ans, le petit André Larouche est condamné par la maladie. Sa mère, Rose-Yvonne Lapointe, qui a une grande dévotion envers le frère André, demande son aide. Elle est exaucée. Durant les années qui suivent, le frère André deviendra le protecteur d’André Larouche. Il lui procurera de grandes joies et l’aidera à donner un sens à une vie qui lui avait réservé plus tard le pire des drames.

Saint Matthew is an example of God’s love and mercy not just for those who are saints, but also for those who are struggling with sin and feeling disconnected from God. The many layers of Matthew’s story teach us about true love and the powerful and sustaining force God’s love offers to us.