I got an early Christmas present, a book entitled "All Saints"by Catholic writer Robert Ellsberg. The book is a year's worth devotional of saints, the canonized, the uncanonized, the popularly canonized, non-Catholics and even non-Christians and the one occasional atheist!
Sanctus (the root of the English word "saint) in Latin means holy and in the early history of the Church, most of the holy ones were martyrs, which in Greek means "witness". Since this book is is so unlike the hagiographies we know, it isn't boring. In fact it drills into the soul.
Some of my 20 fav saints in the book are
1) St Mary, Theotokos
2) Galileo Galilei - faithful to science, faithful to the Church.
3) CS Lewis - Christian Apologist
4) Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King - apostles of non-violence
5) St Andrei Rublev - painter of the "Trinity" in the Russian Orthodox Church
6) Venerable John Henry Newman - English Cardinal
7) St Francis of Assisi - Saint of Nature
9) Dietrich Boenhoffer - Confessing Lutheran Pastor "there is a cost to discipleship"
10) St Thomas More - Chancellor of England, Martyr "King's good servant, but God's first"
11) St Joan of Arc- Liberator of France
12) Blessed John XIII - The Good Pope
13) St Maximillian Kolbe - Priest Martyr of Charity
14) Janani Luwum - Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr
15) St Edmund Campion - Priest and Martyr
16) St Ignatius of Loyola- Patron Saint of Soldiers and mine. I received the sacraments for the first time in his cathedral.
17) The Syrophoenician Woman - "Rabbi, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs"
18) The Anointer of Bethany -"She has done a wonderful thing for me"
19) Maura O'Hallaran - Christian Zen Monk
20) George Herbert - Anglican Vicar
Some saints that mean a lot for me but are not listed in the book. They are
St Lorenzo Ruiz
St John Fisher- Bishop and Martyr
John Paul II - Pope
Charles Henry Brent - Anglican Bishop of the Philippines
Charles Staunton - Anglican Vicar of Sagada
Nagasaki Martyrs
Mother Teresa
Bishop Alberto Ramento
and the aged Muslim imam I spoke with on a flight from Manila to Doha and who taught me that "to kill another man in the name of religion means nothing more but to kill a man."
Sanctus (the root of the English word "saint) in Latin means holy and in the early history of the Church, most of the holy ones were martyrs, which in Greek means "witness". Since this book is is so unlike the hagiographies we know, it isn't boring. In fact it drills into the soul.
Some of my 20 fav saints in the book are
1) St Mary, Theotokos
2) Galileo Galilei - faithful to science, faithful to the Church.
3) CS Lewis - Christian Apologist
4) Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King - apostles of non-violence
5) St Andrei Rublev - painter of the "Trinity" in the Russian Orthodox Church
6) Venerable John Henry Newman - English Cardinal
7) St Francis of Assisi - Saint of Nature
9) Dietrich Boenhoffer - Confessing Lutheran Pastor "there is a cost to discipleship"
10) St Thomas More - Chancellor of England, Martyr "King's good servant, but God's first"
11) St Joan of Arc- Liberator of France
12) Blessed John XIII - The Good Pope
13) St Maximillian Kolbe - Priest Martyr of Charity
14) Janani Luwum - Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr
15) St Edmund Campion - Priest and Martyr
16) St Ignatius of Loyola- Patron Saint of Soldiers and mine. I received the sacraments for the first time in his cathedral.
17) The Syrophoenician Woman - "Rabbi, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs"
18) The Anointer of Bethany -"She has done a wonderful thing for me"
19) Maura O'Hallaran - Christian Zen Monk
20) George Herbert - Anglican Vicar
Some saints that mean a lot for me but are not listed in the book. They are
St Lorenzo Ruiz
St John Fisher- Bishop and Martyr
John Paul II - Pope
Charles Henry Brent - Anglican Bishop of the Philippines
Charles Staunton - Anglican Vicar of Sagada
Nagasaki Martyrs
Mother Teresa
Bishop Alberto Ramento
and the aged Muslim imam I spoke with on a flight from Manila to Doha and who taught me that "to kill another man in the name of religion means nothing more but to kill a man."
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