“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 institutions, today they are all too often hidden away in scholarly books and articles. We are too often given a bland image of these holy men and women, whereas they were not vaguely “spiritual” do-gooders, but men and women on a mission: to attain to Heaven through the imitation of Christ, and to bring as many others along with them as possible!
The tales told in Inspiration from the Saints cover a variety of themes in the lives of these holy men and women: their childhoods, inspirations, and deaths; their boldness and their humility; their love of prayer, mortification, and the Eucharist; their urge to spread the Gospel; their family life; the impression they made upon others; and much more besides.