Inspiration from the Saints: Stories from the Lives of Catholic Holy Men and Women

“I have come to bring fire to the earth,” said Jesus Christ, and his words have come true in the lives of Catholic saints through the ages—men, women, and children on fire with love of Jesus, and with the desire to spread his word. The intention of this book of inspirational stories from the lives of saints is to fill the reader with this same fire. Whereas saints were once the popular heroes of our culture, populating our art and folklore, lending their names to our towns and streets and institutions, today they are all too often hidden away in scholarly books and articles. We are too often given a bland image of these holy men and women, whereas they were not vaguely “spiritual” do-gooders, but men and women on a mission: to attain to Heaven through the imitation of Christ, and to bring as many others along with them as possible!

The tales told in Inspiration from the Saints cover a variety of themes in the lives of these holy men and women: their childhoods, inspirations, and deaths; their boldness and their humility; their love of prayer, mortification, and the Eucharist; their urge to spread the Gospel; their family life; the impression they made upon others; and much more besides.

“The saints are not dead, but alive and present in the Church. In Inspiration from the Saints, Maolsheachlann O Ceallaigh writes in a personal way not only of the saints as living in the Church but as living with us in our own lives. From childhood to death, from hardened sinners to mystics, we here encounter men, women, and children who impress upon us the achievable ‘reality of holiness’; we steep ourselves in the holy glamour of the saints and learn how they make virtue so attractive. At a time when we are tempted to cynicism in face of so many flawed public figures, the author draws our attention to those who have enhanced our Church and our world by their goodness.”—FR. JOHN S. HOGAN, co-host of EWTN’s Forgotten Heritage, author of A Book of Martyrs

“This excellent book is the fruit of the author’s study of the men and women who have made history because of how they lived and loved in saintly witness to their Catholic faith, serving as guides to help us through the twists and turns of daily life. Its masterly selection of anecdotes offers inspiration at a time when so many are disillusioned and filled with doubts about the relevance of the Church in the modern world. Through the example of such deeply spiritual individuals we come to see how we too can become saints if we but allow ourselves to be transformed by Jesus Christ. May this wonderful book inspire us to do just that!”—ANTHONY MURPHY, editor of Catholic Voice, director of the Lumen Fidei Institute

Maolsheachlann O Ceallaigh, in his refreshingly timely and personal reflections on the lives of Catholics revered as saints from Apostolic times to our own, offers myriad ‘saintly’ reasons why Catholics should be proud of their Faith, and strive better to live and appreciate it, in order to propagate and defend it.”—FR. PAUL STENHOUSE MSC, editor of Annals Australasia

“In a way, the very title ‘saint’ does a disservice to the holy people upon whom it is bestowed, because it tends to make them seem unapproachable—and if this is so, how can we emulate them, which is what the Church asks us to do? This book, however, makes the saints seem both approachable and extraordinary at the same time. Its message: saints are real people who become Christ-like in their lives, and, if they can do it, so can we!”—DAVID QUINN, founder of the Iona Institute, columnist with the Irish Independent and the Irish Catholic

MAOLSHEACHLANN O CEALLAIGH was born in Dublin in 1977 and has worked in the library of University College Dublin since 2001. He has written for such publications as The Irish Catholic, The Catholic Voice, Ireland’s Own, Annals Australasia, Spirituality, and Books Ireland, as well as for Sunday Miscellany on RTE radio. He writes a weekly column on G.K. Chesterton for The Open Door magazine, and his blog Irish Papist has been online since 2011.