Mary Lea Carroll - Somehow Saints: More Travels in Search of the Saintly

Advance Praise

Mary Lea Carrolls travels, irrepressible curiosity, and mischievous sense of humor range far and wide. Battles? Who cares? Lets get to the interesting stuff: Relics! Bones! She brings us complex people of faith who worked to alleviate the suffering ofor were themselvespoor, marginalized, and/or people of color. She interjects just enough personal history so we can sense the depth of her own quest. And she infuses the stories of these somehow saints with wit, warmth, and heart.

HEATHER KING,

columnist and author of Holy Desperation:

Praying as If Your Life Depends on It

Traveling with Mary Lea Carroll is like vacationing with a witty friend who educates you as you go. You won't even realize how much youre learning because youll be so busy having a good time. Book this book as you would a great trip.

CHRIS ERSKINE,

Los Angeles Times columnist and author of Daditude

Praise for
Saint Everywhere

A PEOPLE Magazine Pick

Southern California Independent Bookseller Award Finalist

Spiritual, funny, and full of heart. Works as a travel guide or pick-me-up if youre seeking some kind of salvation.

THE SATELLITE SISTERS

Charming, funny, informative, moving, and spiritually profound.

MICHELLE HUNEVEN,

author of Blame and Round Rock

[A] delightful piece of narrative nonfiction. Writing in an utterly unaffected tone and bringing a resonant universality to her musings, [Carroll] invites readers to come along [with her]. Different religions notwithstanding, most readers will be all in for this journeylearning, enjoying, and pondering in equal measure.

Booklist

Carrolls gift to readers isnt just her charming tale of her travels and the lives of women who did what Carroll refers to as grand, eternal things, but her own story of realizing that its never too late to make your dreams come true.

Orange County Register

With the effortless, heartfelt wit of Annie Lamott, Mary Lea Carroll whisks us along on a series of lively, serendipitous pilgrimages that leave us laughing, amazed, and ready to set off on our own miraculous adventures.

PERDITA FINN,

coauthor of The Way of the Rose

Somehow Saints

MORE TRAVELS IN SEARCH OF THE SAINTLY

MARY LEA CARROLL

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOE ROHDE

Prospect Park Books

Copyright 2020 by Mary Lea Carroll

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Prospect Park Books 2359 Lincoln Avenue Altadena, California 91001 www.prospectparkbooks.com

Distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution
www.cbsd.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Carroll, Mary Lea, author.

Title: Somehow saints : more travels in search of the saintly / Mary Lea Carroll.

Description: Altadena, California : Prospect Park Books, [2020]

Identifiers: LCCN 2020022893 (print) | LCCN 2020022894 (ebook) | ISBN 9781945551895 (hardback) | ISBN 9781945551901 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Christian women saints. | Christian shrines. | Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages.

Classification: LCC BR1713 .C369 2020 (print) | LCC BR1713 (ebook) | DDC 270.092/52--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020022893

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020022894

Illustrations by Joe Rohde

Cover photo of St. Josephine Bakhita mural by Andrew Heavens

Cover design by David Ter-Avanesyan

Page design & layout by Amy Inouye, Future Studio

Printed in Canada

There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.

ST. AUGUSTINE (most likely)

Contents

Introduction

light the lamps!

On my sixty-third birthday, I committed to a wild, wishful desire. A kind of defiant act, wanting the years ahead to have bigger meaning. If one is lucky enough to live to ninety, all these late-in-life years have to have more going for them than simply checking in on the kids and trying towhat? Not gain weight? Not eat dinner too early? Not wear clothes that are twenty years old? I committed to something that had stayed in hiding for most of my life: writing a book. Too hard. Others are way smarter. Who needs another book? But through constant prayer of What, Lord, what shall I make of my life at this age? a little flame got sparked. I began to think quite differently. If, indeed, it is Gods desire to give us our hearts desire, then who am I to deny it? And if not me, then who? Are we not each one hundred percent unique? So with a morning prayer of, Please, Lord, dont make it too hard. Im not that good at hard, I put my fingers to the keyboard. I made one demand upon myselftwo, really: 1. I would finish it; and 2. I would do everything in my power to get it out into the world, even if it meant standing on the street wearing a sandwich sign.

With the publication in 2019 of Saint EverywhereTravels in Search of the Lady Saints, a new life chapter opened up: speaking engagements and promotional book travels that took me to several cities across the country. These activities put me on a type of self-improvement program. What I looked like, being on time, and being prepared became important. Most importantly, I couldnt allow myself to give in to thoughts of insecurity. To go from working away quietly at my desk on an eccentric project that might lie there forever, like so many before it, to having a book come full fruit into the public has been, to put it mildly, a completely wild trip!

Upon completing Saint Everywhere, the writing about saints felt complete. Id reached and created to the best of my abilities. But one of the blessings of speaking to so many readers was the encouragement I received for more: More saints, more fun stories, more.

So with the invitation of my publisher to write a second book, I thought, Better get traveling. WaitI already was traveling, crisscrossing the United States, reading in bookstores, libraries, and churches, and speaking at home parties. It occurred to me that I could begin my search for