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My Life with the Saints
by
James Martin
One of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of the Year — Winner of a Christopher Award — Winner of a Catholic Press Association Book Award Meet some surprising friends of God in this warm and wonderful memoir James Martin has led an entirely modern life: from a lukewarm Catholic childhood, to anThe Washington Post Book World
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
October 1st 2007
by Loyola Press
(first published February 28th 2006)
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This is a really great, life-changing kind of book. The author is a Jesuit priest and the book is basically a memoir of how various saints have played an important role in his own life. He also explains some of the theology about saints and why they are important and tells a little about the life of each saint that has played an important role in his life.
The main point of the book is that each saint has his or her own personality with individual strengths and weaknesses - and that ...more
The main point of the book is that each saint has his or her own personality with individual strengths and weaknesses - and that ...more
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My own experience with Catholic saints was better than most raised in the Catholic tradition. I always viewed them as adventurous fairy tales, having been exposed to the grim version of the Grimm fairy tales. This book is written by a Catholic priest who came into the priesthood without really knowing the canon of Catholic popular media like "The Bells of St. Mary's" or "The Song of Bernadette". Without having been influenced by the stranger aspects that can come with Catho...more
An absolutely fascinating book...and unlike any other book on saints I have ever read. Although it is nothing like a devotional, every page has a little nugget to help with your every day life as he relates the lessons learned from saints. He talks about how saints are important to us not because they all do great things for God, but because they are individuals whom God used to do seemingly small things in an extraordinary way.
If you went to Catholic grade school, odds are that your classroom or library had multiple "lives of saints" books for your eight-year-old self to peruse. Full of lavish pictures of romantically dressed men and women, the books told stories about people who traveled to exotic places, fought authority in the name of justice, and performed the occasional miracle or two. And if that wasn't enough to make your eight-year-old-self love them, you might just have gotten hooked by the fact tha...more
When I was in fourth grade at The Blake School in Hopkins, Minnesota, I met my first Catholic. He was a boy in my class, who invited me over to his house one day. I don’t remember a crucifix or a Madonna; I don’t remember the term catechism or CCD being mentioned; I don’t even remember my friend’s name or what he looked like. All I remember is Butler’s Lives of the Saints, on the bookshelf above his head.
I understood, perhaps from a comment that he made, perhaps by noticing Butler, tha...more
I understood, perhaps from a comment that he made, perhaps by noticing Butler, tha...more
Our church decided to purchase 1,000 of these books and give them away to parish families this Christmas. I decided I had been lax on my spiritual reading, and endeavored to squeeze this one in during the holiday.
It was a wonderful book! James Martin is a Jesuit priest (and an excellent writer, I might add), who tells the reader about several saints who had an impact on his journey to becoming a priest and his own personal struggles. I had been introduced to several of these saint...more
It was a wonderful book! James Martin is a Jesuit priest (and an excellent writer, I might add), who tells the reader about several saints who had an impact on his journey to becoming a priest and his own personal struggles. I had been introduced to several of these saint...more
I read this book with the women's spirituality group at Northeast PreRelease Center. It was so enjoyable! James Martin is humble, funny, knowledgable, and sincere. He showed how the Saints have been relevant in his life rather than telling you how they might influence yours. I learned details about several saints I knew nothing about, even some that have not yet been canonized. I admire the attitude that Martin has toward other cultures, the poor, and the Catholic church. He seems to recognize t...more
I've never really been interested to read what I've traditionally seen as a "lives of the saints" book. I have, however, taken time over the years to learn about specific people I've considered role models - Mother Teresa and Saint Francis, Dorothy Day and Pope John Paul, among others. In this book, James Martin writes a short chapter on each of 16 "saints" - some canonized, some blessed, some just admirable people you'd want to emulate in some way. Martin keeps the book i...more
As a Catholic priest, I have a very close devotion to the saints. James Martin is one of my favorite authors. He really personalizes the journey with the saints, how the community of saints has interacted with his own faith journey, how the saints have influenced the way he lives out his Catholic faith. Hopefully, after reading this book, the reader will have a great appreciation for the saints and will want to learn more about them. I usually speak about the saint of the day in my homily d...more
I read this book at the suggestion of my friend, Fr. Bill. The author is a Jesuit priest who describes his thoughts on, and relationship with, various Catholic saints at different points during his life. Fr. Martin writes clearly and well; he has led an interesting life, and it was illuminating to see how his relationship (for lack of a better word) with the saints helped him through difficult times, or offered him some insight into challenging situations. For Protestants, the whole Catholic sai...more
This was a Father's Day present from my 1-year old Charlotte. Apparently she saw me reading Martin's "The Jesuit's Guide to Almost Everything" and found her way to Barnes and Noble to pick this up. Smart girl...
Gotta give it a thumbs-up because it's a book by a priest and it's not dry (actually has some funny parts) and not preachy. Furthermore I learned things about Saints I thought I knew and then learned a lot about some saints and to-be saints I'm glad I got to know.
The...more
Gotta give it a thumbs-up because it's a book by a priest and it's not dry (actually has some funny parts) and not preachy. Furthermore I learned things about Saints I thought I knew and then learned a lot about some saints and to-be saints I'm glad I got to know.
The...more
Oh hello James Martin.
Did you want to reiterate your biography again? Well, sure, go ahead.
Honestly I'm a bit burnt out on it. It's like reading Chapter 2 of any babysitters club book - yes, I remember you went to Jamaica and Africa dude. Cool. Now tell me about some saints.
The book was laid out saint by saint, interspersing the personal experience with the saint, both as an historical person and as a focus of devotion and example for others. The time span was pretty goo...more
Did you want to reiterate your biography again? Well, sure, go ahead.
Honestly I'm a bit burnt out on it. It's like reading Chapter 2 of any babysitters club book - yes, I remember you went to Jamaica and Africa dude. Cool. Now tell me about some saints.
The book was laid out saint by saint, interspersing the personal experience with the saint, both as an historical person and as a focus of devotion and example for others. The time span was pretty goo...more
James Martin writes a great spiritual memoir of how he grew in his spiritual life with the help of saints' example. At once, a biography of the saints and memoir of his personal spiritual journey, Martin writes with a light-heart. For him, the saints represents the diversity of personalities that God works through and serve as a mentor of sorts through his spiritual growth.
Below are the saints he writes about and what it did in his life:
1) St. Jude is a patron saint of ...more
Below are the saints he writes about and what it did in his life:
1) St. Jude is a patron saint of ...more
The book is well written, a good summary of several saint's lives, and is obviously painstakingly researched. James Martin, S.J. has personalized the renderings of the saints lives with references to his own experiences. Yet, I find it difficult to retain a keen interest in reading the rest of the book, although I must admit that it gets more interesting as the book progresses. I have had to read it in fits and starts over a prolonged period of time and am determined to finish it. Right now I am...more
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My favorite books are those which introduce me to other books or people I want to read/“meet”/learn more about. James Martin S.J.'s My Life With the Saints is exactly that sort of book! Of course most of the saints he writes about are old friends so there weren't too many introductions per se. Still reading and hearing about how my favorite heavenly allies have helped others in their spiritual journeys was very comforting. I found myself nodding, smiling and thinking, “That sounds just like ...more
Reading Jesuit James Martin’s My Life with the Saints, brought home many key concepts for me. Some were just reinforcements of what I already know and understand, but there were other concepts, that I have felt before but could never describe, put into words, fully extrapolate, etc. You get the idea, I am sure. “Who trusts in God lacks nothing” was a Swahili proverb Martin cites at the start of one of the later chapters, and can really be seen as wrapping up the book’s entire message in a nic...more
Ok. So, for those of you who don't know, I recently "re-claimed" Catholicism and began practicing. I wanted to learn more about the saints, mostly because I stare at their pretty stained glass windows during church and think, "I wonder what you were like St. Catherine" or "I wonder what you did in life St. Anthony".
"My Life with the Saints" paints a nice and highly accurate portrait of some of James Martin's fave saints. He has an interesting mix and...more
"My Life with the Saints" paints a nice and highly accurate portrait of some of James Martin's fave saints. He has an interesting mix and...more
Written with humor and in a non-pious voice, author and Jesuit priest James Martin reflects on how he came to learn about the saints and how we might incorporate their examples into our daily lives. God calls us all to be holy in different ways; ultimately to be ourselves is how we answer God's call to sanctity and sainthood. Found myself slipping into a silent retreat mode as I read this book - a very good thing for those who have experienced Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises.
I just finished this absolutely wonderful book! I read it on the Kindle but I immediately went and bought a hard back edition from Amazon. I'm going to make this required reading for my teens. Father Martin is a likable, funny, insightful and wise guide who takes you on a journey with his favorite saints. The thing that I found so interesting about it is that it gives you an wonderful and intimate look at the life of a priest and joyfully rich life he lives. I highly recommend it!
In this book the author, a Jesuit priest, talks about the saints that have had the biggest impact on his life and career and why. It is interesting to read his account of his life and what made him give up his successful career in finance to become a priest- and while i do not share his religious beliefs at all, I have to respect a man who gives up everything to live in poverty and spend his time among the poor and in prisons etc.
Gwen
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Recommends it for:
Catholics, and anyone who wonders what the big deal about saints is
I'm forcing myself to keep this book in my car so I only read it in small bites, and it's worth the wait for each new chunk.
I've been into saints for a few years now, and have read my way through a couple of "lives of the saints" books as well as a lot of stuff about particular saints online. But this book is special because of the way the author explains how he "met" each of the saints (that is, how he learned about their lives) and why each one is important to ...more
I've been into saints for a few years now, and have read my way through a couple of "lives of the saints" books as well as a lot of stuff about particular saints online. But this book is special because of the way the author explains how he "met" each of the saints (that is, how he learned about their lives) and why each one is important to ...more
Martin's memoir recounts his life as a Jesuit, especially his years of training, and the saints who have sustained him. The saints are boon companions and if he makes the Jesuit life compelling (at least to me) it is not done boastfully (for all its rigor). As a Protestant I do find his prayers to the saints a bit much, but his invocation of the "cloud of witnesses" (even if he attributes that line to Paul) and his description of the saint's lives make sense. His saints are distinct...more
James Martin is one of the greatest popular Catholic writers around. His style seems so easy and yet there is so much in his writing. If you are on the edge of faith and not sure which way to jump, read this book before you do anything. He puts a wonderful, human face on Catholicism. This is the kind of book that could be enjoyed by some 18 years old and someone 80. A Jesuit on Broadway is also great.
This was a nice easy read about a good number of saints- both official and unofficial- from the perspective of a thoroughly modern Jesuit priest. It's very good introduction to the saints...he gives a lot of detail without going overboard, so you feel like you've really learned something (and by the end you have a long list of books you now want to read, most written by the saints explored in the book).
Enjoyable enough. I knew Martin mostly from his appearances on the Colbert Report (he's the "resident chaplain"). He's a good writer, and the stories of his personal saints are entertaining. Many of said saints were ones I was already acquainted with, which made a few passages a little redundant, but the unfamiliar stories, and Martin's own stories, were what really made this book. And oh, Jesuits really work hard.
Fantastic memoir of a Wharton School grad and former General Electric exec, who became a Jesuit priest. Often humorous, poignant, and very well-written, the author includes fascinating biographies of a variety of saints from many eras in history. It's not my usual fare for vacation reading, but this was a book I couldn't put down!
I picked this up because I know too little about the Catholic saints for my literary and sociocultural comfort; it seemed like the most useful and comfortable sort of approach to correcting that deficit. It turned out to be more of a memoir than I was really hoping, but comes at least with pointers to books I may find more enlightening.
Thoughtful and insightful this left me wanting to learn more about many of the saints he mentioned. His writing style was, for the most part, engaging. And while some portions "spoke" to me more than others this was a valuable read on the history of Christian/Catholic faith and those who came before.
I read this book during Lent; an enjoyable and sometimes insightful memoir. With a Master's degree on saint's lives, I'm definitely not the target audience, which seems to be book clubs with a high school reading level. But the author's personal faith experiences were sometimes eye-opening.
I am now officially a Father Martin fan. This is the second book of his that I've read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. More importantly, the stories and meditations on his favorite saints were packed with inspiration and practical wisdom. Father Martin's self-deprecating, witty writing style makes for a fun read that also happens to edify the soul.
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The Rev. James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, author, and culture editor of America, the national Catholic magazine.
Father Martin was born in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in 1982, where he received a bachelor's degree in finance (B.S. Econ.). After working for six years in corporate finance with Genera...more
More about James Martin...
Father Martin was born in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in 1982, where he received a bachelor's degree in finance (B.S. Econ.). After working for six years in corporate finance with Genera...more
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