Saints

Angels and saints. Catholics tend to think of them as different from the rest of us. They're cast in plaster or simpering on a holy card, performing miracles with superhero strength, or playing a harp in highest heaven.

Yet they are very near to us in every way. In this lively book, Scott Hahn dispels the false notions and urban legends people use to keep the saints at a safe distance. The truth is that Jesus Christ has united heaven and earth in a close communion. Drawing deeply from Scripture, Dr. Hahn shows that the hosts of heaven surround the earthly Church as a great cloud of witnesses. The martyrs cry out from heaven's altar begging for justice on the earth. The prayers of the saints and angels rise to God, in the Book of Revelation, like the sweet aroma of incense.

Dr. Hahn tells the stories of several saints (and several angels too) in a way that's fresh and new. The saints are spiritual giants but with flesh-and-blood reality. They have strong, holy ambitions--and powerful temptations and opposition that must be overcome. Their stories are amazing and yet familiar enough to motivate us to live more beautiful lives. In this telling of their story, the saints are neither otherworldly nor this-worldly. They exemplify the integrated life that every Christian is called to live.

Still, their lives are as different from one another as human lives can be. Dr. Hahn shows the heavenly Church in all its kaleidoscopic diversity--from Moses to Mary, Augustine to Therese, and the first century to the last century.

Only saints will live in heaven. We need to be more like the saints if we want to live in heaven someday. Dr. Hahn shows us that our heavenly life can begin now.

It must.

Here is the fascinating life and compelling spirituality of María Concepción Cabrera de Armida (1862-1937), now Blessed Conchita, presented for the first time by an American author. This saintly Mexican wife and mother of nine children experienced a "mystical life...comparable to that of St. Teresa of Ávila," according to Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the Papal Household.

Author Kathleen Beckman shows how Blessed Conchita -- who founded a religious community for women and one for men and published forty-six books and sixty-six diary volumes -- modeled the heroic fortitude you need to live out your vocation. Her heroic life experience and mystical writings show how to dispose yourself for deep conversion and transformation in Christ.

Stirring excerpts from Blessed Conchita's writings reveal her great love and her profound spiritual insights for priests, religious, and married people alike. Passages describing Jesus' personal and prophetic words to Blessed Conch

In these pages, prolific Catholic author Charles Coulombe brings to bear his vast erudition, affection for Catholic monarchy, and assorted contacts close to the Hapsburg family, through his residence in Austria in the production of a biography of a man whose thrilling and event-filled life story deserves to be better known.

Lisa M. Hendey, founder of the award-winning CatholicMom.com and bestselling author of The Handbook for Catholic Moms and The Grace of Yes shares her passion for the saints by introducing fifty-two holy companions as guides for the amazing vocation of Catholic motherhood.

Guided by the example of the saints, Hendey eloquently links personal stories, scripture, prayer, and soul-strengthening exercises into a spiritually rich and deeply practical resource for Catholic women. This edition includes a new preface and cover and is updated with information about saints canonized since the first edition.

Allow The Book of Saints for Catholic Moms to help you grow in your faith and enrich your heart, mind, body, and soul by spending each week of the year with Lisa M. Hendey and a different saint. This award-winning spiritual guidebook introduces you to popular saints such as Thérèse of Lisieux, Teresa of Calcutta, John Paul II, and Patrick, as well as lesser known but equally inspiring saints such as Gianna Beretta Molla and Damien of Molokai.

Each week Hendey offers:

Carlo Acutis, born May 3, 1991, fully embraced the gift of life. Known as a computer whiz, he also liked to play soccer, video games, and the saxophone. He enjoyed watching his favorite police dramas and making short films with his star cast of cats and dogs. He had many friends and enjoyed spending time with them.

Yet Carlo was a little "different" at school, in the pizzerias, and on the soccer field. What set Carlo apart was his constant pursuit of holiness. In addition to his fun hobbies, he spent time teaching catechism classes and serving in soup kitchens. Carlo loved to attend daily Mass and frequent Eucharistic adoration. The Word of God and the Eucharist were the center of his life. Carlo's unwavering devotion to the Eucharist inspired him to tell the story of Eucharistic miracles through a website he created just for fun. He wanted to deepen his own knowledge of these phenomena, to strengthen his devotion to Jesus, and to invite others to grow in love for the Eucharist. The website subsequently caught the attention of people across the globe, introducing countless people to Eucharistic miracles.

Carlo died from a sudden and violent illness in 2006 at the age of fifteen. In less than a decade, his story spread across Italy and around the world. After Pope Francis declared him venerable in 2018, his beatification was celebrated in Assisi on October 10, 2020. The next step will be canonization, making him the first millennial saint.

Being a Catholic Hipster is all about an attitude--an attitude grounded in being part of a countercultural community of believers dedicated to something bigger than themselves in a world dominated by self-centeredness. It's about yearning to learn more about the faith by seeking out "Catholic cool"--overlooked saints, forgotten prayers and feast days, and traditional practices long set aside by mainstream believers. The Catholic Hipster podcaster Tommy Tighe will help readers rediscover everything awesome about the Catholic faith.

The Catholic Hipster started out in 2014 with a little bit of fun--the Catholic Hipster of the Year contest--on Tighe's blog. But Twitter is where--in all its 140-character glory--that Tighe's "The Catholic Hipster" movement really took root. That's where a group of cool and funky countercultural Catholics gather to swap one-liners, hilarious hipster memes, and all things authentically Catholic.

Tighe even met comedienne Jeannie Gaffigan, who wrote the foreword for The Catholic Hipster Handbook, on Twitter. She said what drew her to the feed was that Tighe was "an embarrassingly Catholic dude who knew he was embarrassingly Catholic and was not embarrassed by it" and that he was "not preachy or judgey or divisive." Catholic hipsters in a nutshell.

Tighe and a group of hipster friends--including Sarah Vabulas, Anna Mitchell, Fr. Kyle Schnippel, and Lisa M. Hendey--explore the beautiful weirdness of the Catholic Church and invite others along for the journey. They share their love for extraordinary saints, offer up obscure prayers, provide short reflections on something quirky and Catholic they've rediscovered, and dare readers to put their faith into action with some cool and challenging practices they can do on their own.

Discover what's awesome about:

"Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II, was a man whose life was the expression of a richly textured and multidimensional soul. The many layers of that soul took on their first, mature form in Kraków." - George Weigel

In this beautifully illustrated spiritual travelogue, New York Times bestselling author George Weigel leads readers through the historic streets of Kraków, Poland, introducing one of the world's great cities through the life of one of the most influential Catholic leaders of all time.

"To follow Karol Wojtyla through Kraków is to follow an itinerary of sanctity while learning the story of a city." Weigel writes. "Thus, in what follows, the story of Karol Wojtyla, St. John Paul II, and the story of Kraków are interwoven in a chronological pilgrimage through the life of a saint that reveals, at the same time, the dramatic history and majestic culture of a city where a boy grew into a man, priest, a bishop--and an apostle to the world."

With stunning photographs by Stephen Weigel and notes on the city's remarkable fabric by Carrie Gress, City of Saints offers an in-depth look at a man and a city that made an indelible impression on the life and thought of the Catholic Church and the 21st century world.