My Life with the Saints

Even those not responding to the Catholic faith will be captivated by James Martin’s eclectic friends, nine celebrated saints to whom he turns when personal issues lead him to seek wisdom or comfort. My Life with the Saints, an award-winning book when first published ten years ago, retains its integrity, brimming over with Martin’s candor and humor.

Tracing his own youthful years from businessman to Jesuit priest, he confronts the doubts that befell him and the knowledge of his personal shortcomings. He confesses the need to avoid attempting to emulate the saints and instead to recognize one’s worth, a message he passes along to readers.

The saints he chooses range from such intellectuals as Thomas Merton and Ignatius of Loyola to the French girl Bernadette and Therese of Lisieux, whose writing was inspirational despite her early death at 24 years old, to the courageous Joanne of Arc and the martyrs of Uganda. Reaching back to the earliest days of Christianity to the apostle Peter, Martin steps across the centuries to include Pope John XXlll and Mother Teresa, both widely familiar and admired today.

The chapters follow three paths, Martin’s own story, the early years of the saints in their family settings, and not least their legacy.