James Martin - My Life with the Saints

"An outstanding and often hilarious memoir of one man's interaction with the saints of the Roman Catholic tradition."

Winner of a 2007 Christopher Award

For books that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"

First Place Hard Cover Spirituality, 2007 Catholic Press Association Award

"In a cross between Holden Caulfield and Thomas Merton, James Martin has written one of the best spiritual memoirs in years. With help from the saints who have inspired and guided his way, he recounts a journey that is as entertaining as it is profound."

-Robert Ellsberg, author of All Saints

"It isn't often that a new and noteworthy book comes along in this genre, but we have reason to celebrate My Life with the Saints. It is earmarked for longevity. It will endure as an important and uncommon contribution to religious writing."

-Doris Donnelly, America

"In a volume that is part spiritual memoir, part inspirational guide, Martin, a Jesuit priest and associate editor at America, applies the teachings of great saints to everyday life. Martin is interested in holding up the saints not as paragons but as exemplars of holy struggle. All the saints, he writes, struggled in one way or another.... Martin's final word for us is as Jungian as it is Catholic: God does not want us to be like Mother Teresa or Dorothy Day. God wants us to be most fully ourselves."

The Washington Post Book World

"Martin takes a splendid idea and develops it masterfully by weaving stories from his life into those of his favorite saints. Martin's animated style and wide-ranging experiences will make this a book readers of diverse backgrounds will enjoy."

-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"The saints are given to us as patrons and companions. James Martin tells us how they have been resources for him in every time of need. In delightful prose he recounts incidents, both perilous and funny, that have prompted him to turn to the saints, and in doing so shows us a new way of living out a devotion that is as old and universal as the church."

-Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ, Fordham University

"Intriguing.... Throughout his book, Martin shows how the saints have accompanied and been companions to him.... The result is an enlightening overview of the familiar ... and the relatively unknown.... There are many interesting and occasionally unusual bits of new information ... and his warm style invites readers to get to know the saints as people."

-The Christian Century

"In this warm, conversational book, James Martin shows us how the saints-even the ones not yet canonized-challenge us, lead us, shape us, and help us to deal with our worst failings. I think he is our new Thomas Merton, helping us to wrestle with our humanity."

-Emilie Griffin, author of Simple Ways to Pray

"This wonderfully written volume interweaves the spiritual pilgrimage of a young Jesuit and his discovery of the saints of the Catholic tradition. Readers of this book will receive both the abundant gift of good writing and the more abundant grace that flows from the witness of the saints. Enthusiastically recommended."

-Lawrence S. Cunningham, author of A Brief History of the Saints

"The saints' stories and their relevance to Martin's own spiritual journey form the spine of this remarkably engaging book. A mix of history, memoir, social commentary, and spiritual exercise, My Life with the Saints reveals the familiar and not familiar stories of a handful of holy people."

- U. S. Catholic

"James Martin has written an engaging, honest memoir."

-The Dallas Morning News

"A wonderful new book... both deeply spiritual and profoundly human.... What's delightful about this book is its sheer unpredictability. You never know where Fr. Martin's journey will take you, and what saints, icons, and plain old human beings you'll meet along the way.... [And] there are places in the book where you will laugh out loud."

-Terry Golway, The Irish Echo

"James Martin lives with the saints, and thanks to his graceful, humorous, and personal memoir, the saints come alive for us. My Life with the Saints places the renewed interest in saints into a modern context, which is really the historical context of sainthood-namely, an everyday pilgrimage to holiness, not some sudden transformation into a flawless plaster icon. This is a book to read from cover to cover, but also an armchair devotional to dip into every day. I loved it."

-David Gibson, author of The Coming Catholic Church

"James Martin's captivating new memoir... rises above the rest so thoroughly as to create an entirely new subgenre: Lives of the Saints That Might Actually Get Read.... My Life with the Saints is a sweetly persuasive apologetic for the saints as models for all Christian believers."

-Explorefaith.org

"What a wonderful book this is! Charming, enthralling, intimate, full of wisdom and self-effacing humor, it supplies not just a biographical overview of a wide variety of holy women and men throughout history, but in their powerfully affective influence on Martin's life we see how useful it is to continually turn to the saints for encouragement and guidance."

-Ron Hansen, author of Mariette in Ecstasy

"With wit and candor, Martin brings [the saints] and his other seemingly distant role models down to earth, citing instances from their biographies and, with deepest effectiveness, revealing his personal connection to each and how each has assisted with his life."

-Booklist

"An account of spiritual peregrination that is as delightful as it is instructive.... He succeeds in making `the cloud of witnesses' persuasively present."

-First Things

"My summer reading list begins with My Life with the Saints, by James Martin, whose personal experiences with the saints are chronicled with a great deal of charm and whose inspirations sneak up on you. You think you're just enjoying some essays. You're doing much more."

-National Review Online

"This book is one to carry with you on a plane, on a train, or in your briefcase, or to leave by your bedside or on your desk; dip into it for a sense of belonging to the company of those who believed passionately, no matter what their vocations or where they lived. They lived the gospel, and Martin's account gives us the sneaky suspicion that we can too! Read it, absorb it, and then share it with friends on the way."

-Megan McKenna, author of And Morning Came

"This new account by Jesuit Fr. James Martin stands out because it weaves the author's personal struggles and doubts together with colorful portraits of the holy people who have inspired him.... This splendid book might prompt readers to look deeper into the lives of the saints whose stories speak to them."

-National Catholic Reporter

"Perhaps the most significant contribution Martin's memoir offers is the multiple examples of how to appropriate the wisdom of the saints into one's own life.... Martin's accessible writing fuels the imagination such that one is inspired to give the saints a second look."

-Renee LaReau, Bustedhalo.com

"With a mix of fascinating historical tidbits, deep spiritual insight, and first-class storytelling, Martin has produced one of the best treatments of the saints in recent memory."

-John L. Allen Jr., author of Conclave

"Sometimes a highly personal perspective is exactly what one needs to see familiar subjects in a new way.... It is an appealing approach.... Engagement is its purpose, that and to make clear that young people today are influenced by films, television, Scriptures read at Mass, and mentors who are serious and conversant about their faith. Now Martin himself is the mentor, the man urging people to find sanctity by being themselves."