Books on the Saints

Venerable Louis of Granada was the favorite author of St. Teresa of Avila, St. John on the Cross, St. Francis de Sales and many others. Among the hundreds of eminent ascetical writers of Spain, Louis of Granada remains unsurpassed in the beauty and purity of his style, the solidity of his doctrine, and the popularity and influence of his writings. Besides ascetical theology, his published works treat of Scripture, dogma, ethics, biography, and history. He is best known, however, for his ascet...

St. John Fisher was a standout figure in the 16th century, going against the reigning king to remain true to his faith. Fisher was a brave defender of traditional Catholic priesthood and liturgy, and his renowned work Defense of the Priesthood attacks Luther's dissenting arguments head-on. This work stands as an important piece of theological literature, both for its critique of Martin Luther’s theology and for its defense of sacraments which were traditionally accepted in Catholicism at the ...

St. Robert Bellarmine was one of the best known of the Counter-Reformation theologians by both friend and foe. His apologetic writings were the most widely read treatises on theological subjects during the 17th century, and they also brought numerous conversions to the Catholic faith. Now for the first time, St. Robert's amazing treatises are available to you in English! In this treatise on the Sacrifice of the Mass, St. Robert divides his work into two topics: That the Mass is a Sacrifice, a...

St. Maximus the Confessor (c. 580–662), saint and martyr, might well be called the Saint of Synthesis. His thought, no less than his geographical wanderings, place him between Rome and Byzantium, between the theologies of East and West, and between the early Middle Ages and the ancient Church, whose representatives and traditions (which during his day had suffered much at the hands of imperial and ecclesial censure) he salvaged and brought back to the attention of his contemporaries. In this,...

“I have come to bring fire to the earth,” said Jesus Christ, and his words have come true in the lives of Catholic saints through the ages—men, women, and children on fire with love of Jesus, and with the desire to spread his word. The intention of this book of inspirational stories from the lives of saints is to fill the reader with this same fire. Whereas saints were once the popular heroes of our culture, populating our art and folklore, lending their names to our towns and streets and ins...

In No Strange Land illuminates the richness of mysticism--in the life of Philip Neri--as an "experience of the activity of God." The life of the Apostle of Rome demonstrates that it is primarily people, not arguments, that reveal the mysteries of God. Philip's experience of God, his mysticism, was given him for the sake of others. Furthermore, that experience itself was embodied; that is to say awakened, nourished, and brought to fruition within the religious tradition into which he was born,...

The Song of Bernadette is a remarkable literary masterpiece by Austrian-Jewish author Franz Werfel, offering a powerful testament to the transcending power of faith. It follows the true story of Bernadette Soubirous and her miraculous visions at Lourdes in 1858, depicting how the simple peasant girl’s faith changed a town - and indeed history - forever. Inspired by his experience hiding from the Nazis in Lourdes much later, Werfel crafted this passionate masterwork to show the deep spiritual ...

“Today bring to Me all mankind, especially all sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy.” — Jesus to St. Faustina Throughout her Diary, St. Faustina speaks of Jesus' call for the conversion of souls. Through prayer and sacrifice, the Lord calls us all to strive for our own conversion, and for the conversion of the whole world. Are you looking for a way to draw your friend or family member back to faith in God? Look no further: St. Faustina Prayer Book for the Conversion of Sinners i...

One of the greatest spiritual classics of all time is Introduction to the Devout Life, the St. Francis de Sales masterpiece written in the seventeenth century. Deacon Matthew Newsome breaks open this divine guide from one of the most sought-after spiritual counselors in history and helps you apply it to your life today. In these pages, you will find the direction you need to grow closer to God and practice Christian discipleship regardless of your vocation.De Sales insisted that devotion is f...

The war is on. The Devil plots to defeat you. Meet some battle-tested warriors who fight at your side. Satan is real. He's a formidable foe who wants to snatch us away from God, and the thought of doing battle with him can seem daunting. Even so, the saints who have gone before us have engaged the Devil, armed with the power of Christ ... and emerged victorious! These fellow warriors in heaven now fight on our behalf. In Saints Who Battled Satan, Paul Thigpen, author of Manual for Spiritual W...

The Passion of Christ Through the Eyes of Mary by St. Anselm offers an in-depth look at the events preceding and following Christ's passion and death. This book brings together St. Anselm, the Magnificent Doctor, and writings attributed to St. Bernard, the Mellifluous Doctor to provide a uniquely detailed presentation of these life-changing events for readers.Readers will be exposed to Our Lady's private revelations from her conversations with her spiritual sons that have enriched many prayer...

To help celebrate the fourth centenary of the birth of St. John of the Cross in 1542, Edith Stein received the task of preparing a study of his writings. She uses her skill as a philosopher to enter into an illuminating reflection on the difference between the two symbols of cross and night. Pointing out how entering the night is synonymous with carrying the cross, she provides a condensed presentation of John's thought on the active and passive nights, as discussed in The Ascent of Mount Car...

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES'S APPROACH TO HOLINESS Live Today Well is an essential guide for Christians looking for spiritual guidance to apply the teachings of St. Francis de Sales in their everyday lives. The book offers insights and practical advice on living a life of sanctity and holiness, even while managing commitments and tasks. Through this book, readers will be able to find balance between prayer and action with respect to their daily tasks.In Live Today Well, Fr. Thomas Dailey (an Oblate ...

The contribution of women in the history of the Church is often overlooked. In modern times it is customary to look for all the wrong things, who is powerful, who became the first woman to work in this place, or who started a movement. The women who are the subject of this book, however, were greater than any of these mundane accomplishments; they were Heroines of Christ. Married and religious, Roman martyrs and Cristeros, the 15 women whose biographies are found in this book exemplified true...

Saint Jerome was a born writer, individual, fresh, sparkling with verve and (at times) vitriol; a great scholar, accomplished in languages, exegesis, and history; and, above all, an ingenious translator, whose Vulgate is the Church's official Latin Bible. Despite the longstanding fame of his literary and spiritual legacies, however, the saint's historical life has not always received equal care. In this equally instructive and entertaining study, Paul Monceaux balances the biographical accoun...

Discover The Miraculous Medal, an inspiring children’s book that tells the miraculous story of Sister Catherine Laboure and her encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Suspenseful and moving, this book recounts the moments when Our Lady appeared before Sister Catherine to ask for a special medallion to be forged in honor of her apparitions—later known as the Miraculous Medal. Kids will love this spellbinding tale of faith and devotion that teaches how heavenly intervention can bring about mir...

Padre Pio was born in Italy in 1887 and became a priest and confessor. (“Padre” means “Father” in Italian.) He heard millions of confessions during his lifetime and was known for his gifts of healing and insight into people’s hearts. Padre Pio filled souls with peace and helped many grow closer to God. By encouraging prayer and frequent confession, he led countless people back to faith and the Church. He is the patron saint of confessors, celebrated on September 23. Saints are real-life heroe...

Among the early followers of St. Francis of Assisi were saints and masters of the spiritual life who shared both a natural and supernatural kinship with their founder. Through their lives and writings they deepened and articulated the spirituality St. Francis embodied—rooted in simplicity, love, and total conformity to Christ. Their witness brought clarity to the distinctive traits of Franciscan life and became a wellspring for generations of Christians seeking to follow the Seraphic Father. ...

Winner of a 2025 Excellence in Publishing Award from the Association of Catholic Publishers: Spirituality (Third Place [tie]). Let the Holy Spirit lead you to the Living Water that renews and strengthens faith. When asked about his spiritual gifts of healing, bilocation, prophecy, and the stigmata, Padre Pio once replied, “You know, they are a mystery to me, too.” In that humility lies a key truth: the Holy Spirit works mysteriously in every Christian’s life, bestowing gifts we may not fully ...

This Vision book for youth 9 - 15 years old tells the exciting, dramatic story of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the order he founded, the Society of Jesus. As a young man, Ignatius had dreams of an adventurous life as a soldier. His dreams, however, did not come true the way he had hoped. Seriously wounded in battle, the soldier Ignatius had a profound conversion to Christ during his period of healing and recovery. He abandoned a promising career in the military and dedicated the rest of his lif...

Based upon Richard Johnson's work, which first appeared in print in the 1590s and was widely read for over three centuries after its publication, The Seven Champions of Christendom whisks the reader away to a bygone age of mythic heroes and warrior saints engaged in earthly battle against evil. The Seven are St. George of England, St. Denis of France, St. James of Spain, St. Anthony of Italy, St. Andrew of Scotland, St. Patrick of Ireland, and St. David of Wales. Subsequently rewritten in mod...

Mary Fabyan Windeatt presents the powerful story of the famous life and miracles of St. Benedict for the Vision Book series of saints for youth. Known as the Father of Western Monasticism, St. Benedict played a major role in the Christinization and civilization of post-Roman Europe in the sixth century.Having lived in an era of great immorality and vice, Benedict founded an order for monks whose strong life of prayer and work helped convert the godless society around them. It tells how his Be...

Learn from one of the Church's great mystics, Saint Frances of Rome. In this book, she narrates her visions to her spiritual director, Canon Giovanni Matteoni. He records her visions of the geography of hell and the state of limbo. She describes the punishments for various sins such as perverts, usurers, blasphemers, traitors, murderers, apostates, schismatics, incestuous people, witches and more. She also talks about the particular torments due to the seven deadly sins and the punishments fo...

Mostly written between 1070 and 1080, before he became Archbishop of Canterbury, the prayers and meditations of Anselm of Aosta created a tradition of intimate, intensely personal devotional works written in subtle and theologically daring prose. While the "Prayer to God" is based on the Lord's Prayer, the "Prayer to Christ" is inspired by ardent private emotion and other prayers invest saints with individual attributes, with John the Baptist as the friend, Peter as the shepherd and Mary Magd...

Thomas More (1478-1535) was an English lawyer, philosopher, humanist, and author, most known for his book Utopia (1516) and for his death after refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. The Sadness of Christ is his last book, wrote by the saint before he was executed in London after being imprisoned for standing firm for his faith. His Devotion to the Lord's Passion was familiar to him therefore he wrote about it in this book giving priceless and valuable refle...

Joseph's Donkey is the heartwarming tale of a noble donkey purchased by St. Joseph shortly before his marriage to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The trusted creature helps Joseph in his carpentry business by hauling wood and stones, but he also plays a key role in all the major events recorded in the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels: he carries Mary to Bethlehem, where she gives birth to Jesus; he takes the Holy Family to Egypt to escape the evil king Herod; and he shuttles the family to Jerusalem...

St. Robert Bellarmine's work in defense of the saints, their place in heaven, their canonization and veneration, etc., ranks like all of his works among the classical works of Catholic Theology. In this work, Bellarmine meets the attack of Protestantism against Catholic teaching on the saints, firstly on their own ground with sound Scriptural Exegesis, backed up by the witness of the Greek and Latin Church. The great counter-reformation doctor begins the work with a treatise on whether the so...

St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617), Patroness of the Americas, is the first canonized saint of the New World. She was the tenth of thirteen children, and her mother experienced no pain at her birth. Though exquisitely beautiful (hence her nickname, Rose), she refused to marry, and while helping support her family by needlework and growing flowers, she practiced heroic charity and lived as a Dominican Tertiary in her parents' home. Rose tenderly cared for the sick, even those with repulsive wounds, ...

St. Francis Solano: A Captivating Story of Adventure! Parents and children alike will be captivated by the incredible stories of St. Francis Solano, the amazing 16th-century Jesuit saint. From his unparalleled ability to convert thousands of slaves on a sinking ship with just one sermon to his own selfless acts of healing the sick and lost, even finding a spring in the desert, this enthralling book is sure to entertain and inspire children 10 and up. With detailed illustrations, captivating n...

Written by a foremost expert on the life of the beloved St. Thérèse of Lisieux, this work is widely considered as the most definitive and popular presentation of her life. St. Thérèse is the most popular modern saint of our times.Who was this young French Carmelite who died in 1897 of tuberculosis at age twenty-four? At a time when extreme physical penance was widespread in many religious orders, Thérèse would have none of it. Her passionate love of Jesus led her to concentrate entirely on hi...

This book explores the transformative encounters with Christ that shaped the lives of the saints and set them on the path to holiness. Through the lives of Mary, St. Joseph, St. Paul, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Augustine, and others, Kristina Olsen traces how grace works patiently through struggle, conversion, and growth to form mature Christian souls. Rather than presenting idealized figures, the book highlights the real human journey of faith: moments of doubt, interior conflict, mystical exp...

In a culture marked by confusion and spiritual decline, Franciscanism: The Answer to Modernism presents the life and spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi as a path back to truth and renewal. The book proposes Franciscanism as a remedy to the errors of Modernism, inviting readers to recover a faith rooted in humility, simplicity, and fidelity to Christ.

A vital part of the treasury of the Divine Mercy message and devotion, this edition of God is Mercy, a short work by St. Faustina's confessor Bl. Michael Sopocko (1888-1975), introduces us to the place of Divine Mercy in salvation history. Enriched by Dr. Robert Stackpole's expert commentary, this special edition of a Divine Mercy classic belongs on every Catholic's shelf.

With such a great cloud of witnesses, we have much to learn from the saints. Allow the saints to be your child's example for meeting Christ in the Eucharist.' In Eucharistic Saints, your children will encounter stories of saints they may already know, like Pope Saint John Paul II and St. Thomas Aquinas, and they will become familiar with saints they may not know yet, like St. Peter Julian Eymard and St. Tarcisius. This book also introduces your children to holy souls who were their own age, l...

"Many of us give up on prayer when we don't get the answer we want WHEN we want it." For nearly two decades, Saint Monica prayed for her wayward son. Years and years of prayers, seemingly unanswered. Countless tears shed with no relief. Yet she would not give up. That very act of persistent prayer blessed the entire Church, for we have all benefitted from the conversion of her son, Augustine, who became one of the most revered saints of all time. Parents of any age or at any stage can cultiva...

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini crossed oceans to spread the Gospel and serve the poor. She also wrote oceans of letters to her religious sisters as she travelled all over the globe. Frances suffered from health problems all her life. Despite her many limitations, she bravely faced persecution, poverty, and dangerous sea voyages to establish new schools and orphanages for her religious order, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. To keep in contact with her spiritual daughters throughout h...

In his masterful 12th-century work, The Twelve Degrees of Humility and Pride, St. Bernard of Clairvaux--the "Doctor Mellifluus" or "Honey-Sweet Doctor"-- eloquently crafts a soul's guide to spiritual ascent and descent. With his deep understanding of human nature and his own monastic experience, St. Bernard outlines a path that leads away from the self-deception of pride towards the liberating embrace of humility.St. Bernard illustrates humility as the foundation of a life anchored in truth, ...

In sixth-century Ireland, the memory of the great missionary Saint Patrick was strong, but so was the influence of the old pagan religion. There was still much work to be done to spread the Christian faith.This book tells the story of one of the greatest saints of the Emerald Isle after Patrick, Saint Kevin, whose monastery at Glendalough was a beacon of light for eight hundred years. Saint Kevin worked miracles, communed with animals, and inspired thousands to leave everything to follow Chri...

This book introduces the reader to thirteen Christian spiritual classics that illustrate the ordinary steps we can take toward living the Gospel life more fully.Drawing on the rich teaching of a particular saint or mystic, each chapter helps us grow in a different aspect of holiness, of intimacy with God. Archbishop Hughes offers an itinerary for becoming a good disciple of the Lord, giving the reader access to an impressive spiritual library that can support and strengthen progress in discip...

The spiritual wisdom of Saint Benedict has endured for centuries and quite literally shaped Western culture from its inception. Tenets of the order, like its motto and Saint Benedict's Rule, are just as influential for lay people as they are for the Benedictine monks and nuns. The cross and medal of St. Benedict is also among the gifts bestowed by the Benedictine Order. For centuries, it has been a conduit for God's power against malicious spirits.The history of this cross and medal--how it f...

Italian Carmelite Antonio Maria Sicari''s vibrant biographies of saints--from Augustine to Catherine of Siena to Faustina Kowalska--have been read across Europe for decades. In How Saints Die, Sicari turns to the most difficult challenge in the life of a Christian: the hour of death.What he uncovers in this darkest moment, however, is not desolation, but inexplicable joy. I have recounted the death of many saints, he writes, but all of them have confirmed for me the truth of this ancient Chri...

This unparalleled introduction to St. John Henry Newman--mind, heart, soul, and personality--brings the great cardinal to life before our eyes, and with him the charged air of nineteenth-century England. Drawing from his letters, writings, and journal entries with precision and poetic flair, the book is one of Ida Friederike Görres' masterworks. While famous for his brilliance, Cardinal Newman did not hide in an ivory tower. His life was one of risk, sacrifice, and immense charity. His sharp ...

St. Francis of Assisi is one of the greatest and most recognizeable saints in the history of the Church. His life was a mirror of the life of Christ. In a decadent age, filled with corruption, Francis became not merely an impetus for reform, but a living image of Christ in his virtue and in his flesh through the stigmata. Candide Chalippe's work is not merely biography, it is a spiritual classic written by an author filled with piety and love for Christ and His Church. This new publication ed...