The Blessed Mother, the Missionaries to the Americas and "The Saints for All Seasons"

Saints for All Seasons, by Msgr. John P. Kleinz

This Christian classic gives short biographical sketches of selected saints and provides an introduction on what a saint is and his or her significance Catholic spirituality today. This is a book anyone will love to read over and over again because the saints portrayed are as humanly as everyone is.

A brief introduction

The book is meant for all Catholics of all walks of life. Though the core content is composed of short biographies of selected saints, there is a special focus on the Blessed Mother and an Introduction explaining what what a saint is and how the veneration of the saints have evolved through the centuries. The saints' short biographical sketches spans three to four pages and is written in a colorful and interesting style. What is unique about these hagiographical sketches is that they include some quotations and the saints wrote in their lifetime.

Chapters of the book

• Introduction - What is a Saint?
• Chapter One: Mother of God
• Mary's Role in the Church Today
• Marian Prayers
• Marian Shrines
• Chapter Two: Eight Role Models for Priests
• Chapter Three: Missionary Martyrs
• Chapter Four: Missionaries to the Americas
• Saint Martin de Porres (feast: November 3)
• Saint Turibius de Mogrovejo
• Saint Peter Claver, SJ
• Fray Juniper Serra, OFM
• Father Damien
• Mother Marianne of Molokai
• Bishop Frederic Baraga
• Father Jean Pierre Aulneau, SJ
• Father Pierre Jean de Smet, SJ
• Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys
• Saint John Neumann
• Chapter Five: Nine Foundresses
• Chapter Six: Eight Jesuits
• Chapter Seven: Saints of the Early and Medieval Church
• Chapter Eight: A Woman for Our Time - Venerable Mary Katharine Drexel

About 48 holy men and women featured in the book

The 48 holy men and women are categorized according to the chapters given above. Some of these holy men and women are not yet beatified or canonized, but because of the witness of their holy lives, they are included by author Msgr. Kleinz in his work. One of them, Brother Charles de Foucauld, has been beatified last November 2005.

For those who collect books on the lives of the saints, this work on the holiness of the Church's witnesses will inspire readers to surely reread and learn more after a second reading. The facts given in the book are precise and the information concerning the holy man or woman is as historical as the sources from which they came from. The remarkable inspiration each life gives springs from the pages, and will certainly influence the reader to follow the heroic spirit exemplified. Most inspiring are the lives of the martyrs, who witnessed to Christ with their own lives. The martyrs' courage was raised by the Spirit to a level of courage that one can see as only coming from God Himself.