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Saint Catherine of Siena: The Story of the Girl Who Saw Saints in the Sky
Why does God work in mysterious ways? One of the greatest saints ever to live, Catherine of Siena is mostly known for inspiring the pope to return to Rome from France, but her story begins as a young woman who thinks she is called to be a hermit! How did God turn this aspiring hermitess into someone who was called to argue with the pope himself and his whole entire court? See how little Catherine learns to love God and achieve great sanctity through loving the people she cares for along the way.
Mary Fabyan Windeatt was known as “the storyteller of the saints.” In the 1950’s and 60’s she wrote over twenty historical fiction novels on the saints, bringing to life these holy men and women for young readers across the world. By artistically rendering familiar stories, the Windeatt books help readers see that the saints are real people whom we can emulate.
Ideal for all children, especially those enrolled in TAN Academy in the fourth through sixth grades for easy reading literature.
Mary Fabyan Windeatt was known as “the storyteller of the saints.” In the 1950’s and 60’s she wrote over twenty historical fiction novels on the saints, bringing to life these holy men and women for young readers across the world. By artistically rendering familiar stories, the Windeatt books help readers see that the saints are real people whom we can emulate.
Ideal for all children, especially those enrolled in TAN Academy in the fourth through sixth grades for easy reading literature.
65 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1993
About the author
Mary Fabyan Windeatt
105 books26 followersMary Fabyan Windeatt was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1910. Interested in music as a child, she received a degree in music from Toronto Conservatory of Music at the age of fifteen and a further degree in music from Mount Saint Vincent College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1927. This same year she moved with her family to San Diego, California, graduating from San Diego State College in 1934 with a degree in business.
She moved to New York to seek employment in the field of advertising but was unsuccessful. With time on her hands, she began to write and in 1934, she sent a story, which was accepted for publication, to a Catholic magazine. She continued to write while pursuing her studies, graduating in 1940 with a master’s degree from Columbia University.
Miss Windeatt eventually contributed verse, book reviews, short stories, and articles to thirty-three different publications and wrote numerous biographies of saints for children. The first biography, Saints in the Sky, The Story of St. Catherine of Siena, was published in 1941. Considerable research went into her books; for example, she traveled to Peru in the summer of 1941 prior to publishing Lad of Lima, The Story of Blessed Martin de Porres in 1942. (St. Martin de Porres was canonized a saint in 1962.) In addition to her biographies, she also wrote the text for twenty-eight Catholic coloring books and was a regular contributor to the monthly Dominican magazine The Torch in which many of her books originally appeared in serial form. A third-order (secular) Dominican, she has been called the “storyteller of the saints”—especially Dominican saints.
Later in life, Miss Windeatt moved near St. Meinrad’s Abbey in St. Meinrad, Indiana with her mother. She died on November 20, 1979.
Under their original titles, the series of saint biographies that Mary Fabyan Windeatt wrote in the 1940’s and 1950’s are currently out of print. However between 1991 and 1994, Tan Books and Publishers, Inc. republished twenty of these saint biographies.
Rich in Roman Catholic culture and doctrine, these books illustrate to both children and adults how the Faith was lived every day by the saints; they inspire us to know, love, and serve God as the saints did. Mary Fabyan Windeatt had the ability to relate much factual information about each saint while seasoning the narrative with the doctrinal truths they lived. While each saint shines forth in these books, these writings also reveal to us Ms. Windeatt’s own strong Catholic beliefs; her faith too lives on.
She moved to New York to seek employment in the field of advertising but was unsuccessful. With time on her hands, she began to write and in 1934, she sent a story, which was accepted for publication, to a Catholic magazine. She continued to write while pursuing her studies, graduating in 1940 with a master’s degree from Columbia University.
Miss Windeatt eventually contributed verse, book reviews, short stories, and articles to thirty-three different publications and wrote numerous biographies of saints for children. The first biography, Saints in the Sky, The Story of St. Catherine of Siena, was published in 1941. Considerable research went into her books; for example, she traveled to Peru in the summer of 1941 prior to publishing Lad of Lima, The Story of Blessed Martin de Porres in 1942. (St. Martin de Porres was canonized a saint in 1962.) In addition to her biographies, she also wrote the text for twenty-eight Catholic coloring books and was a regular contributor to the monthly Dominican magazine The Torch in which many of her books originally appeared in serial form. A third-order (secular) Dominican, she has been called the “storyteller of the saints”—especially Dominican saints.
Later in life, Miss Windeatt moved near St. Meinrad’s Abbey in St. Meinrad, Indiana with her mother. She died on November 20, 1979.
Under their original titles, the series of saint biographies that Mary Fabyan Windeatt wrote in the 1940’s and 1950’s are currently out of print. However between 1991 and 1994, Tan Books and Publishers, Inc. republished twenty of these saint biographies.
Rich in Roman Catholic culture and doctrine, these books illustrate to both children and adults how the Faith was lived every day by the saints; they inspire us to know, love, and serve God as the saints did. Mary Fabyan Windeatt had the ability to relate much factual information about each saint while seasoning the narrative with the doctrinal truths they lived. While each saint shines forth in these books, these writings also reveal to us Ms. Windeatt’s own strong Catholic beliefs; her faith too lives on.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 31, 2013
My Confirmation saint.
*Re-read 2013 for school project*
This is good, especially for younger kids, but it truly doesn't do St. Catherine justice. She had so much more in her life that was not covered in this book. You really don't see how amazing she was from reading this one, sadly.
*Re-read 2013 for school project*
This is good, especially for younger kids, but it truly doesn't do St. Catherine justice. She had so much more in her life that was not covered in this book. You really don't see how amazing she was from reading this one, sadly.
September 5, 2017
St. Catherine of Siena is actually my Confirmation saint! :) I read this years ago for school...maybe 4th grade? Anyway, I randomly decided to reread it today. Even though it's short, I still think it's a nice book to read to get to know the main points of Catherine's life. I'd love to find a more detailed book on her sometime though.
May 26, 2017
I loved this saint and this was a great concise book with everything you need to know... great for adults too
March 26, 2020
A great, quick story for the kids about Saint Catherine of Siena's life. Her courage, strength, wisdom, and love of Christ really shines through.
September 1, 2022
Even though Mary Fabyan's books were geared towards children, you learn so much about the various saints she write's about. Her books are treasures!
March 15, 2023
Read with the kids as our winter saint biography. Windeatt's biographies are perfect for little Catholics but adults can learn something too!
September 28, 2020
72/100 (= 3.4/6) ≈ 3 Stars
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Quite disappointing actually. I few nice little tidbits, but it doesn't do the saint justice.
A read-aloud with the kids which could have been so much more!
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Quite disappointing actually. I few nice little tidbits, but it doesn't do the saint justice.
A read-aloud with the kids which could have been so much more!
December 22, 2013
Good series
August 4, 2022
This was such a good book!! It actually helped me to decide that I wanted St. Catherine of Siena to be my Confirmation Saint!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews