Melanie Rigney - Radical Saints: 21 Women for the 21st Century

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR
Radical Saints

Each person has a radical call to holiness to the point of sainthood. How can that be in this day and in this age? God never asks the impossible; Melanie Rigney has given us twenty-one radical women who prove the feasibility of such a call. What joy the reader will encounter as they revisit familiar saints, while learning new facts and being inspired in ways to holiness in their own lives while also discovering new friends. Radical Saints offers a format of biography, reflection, question, and resources, that is perfect for individual or small group study.

A LLISON G INGRAS, www.reconciledtoyou.com and The Stay Connected Journals for Catholic Women: The Gift of Invitation

I immersed myself in these stories about ordinary women living extraordinary lives; the reflections on Living Radically Today were as insightful as the saints themselves. Thank you for providing the next book club selection for our group!

J EAN K ELLY , president, National Council of Catholic Women

The path to sainthood is varied for every individual, but a few common virtues and traits are shared by every saint: holiness, strength, and courage. Melanie Rigney, a great resource on the lives of holy women, proposes that many saints are also radicals in the very best sense of the word. Join Rigney for a new perspective on the lives of many well-known saints and an introduction to new spiritual giants to accompany you on your own journey of radical love and faith.

L ISA M. H ENDEY , author of Im a Saint in the Making

Melanie Rigney introduces 21 saints who endured much and persevered in their commitment to Gods call in their lives. What makes these saints radical is not extreme beliefs or practices; its simply that they chose to love God and their neighbor without reserve. Anecdotes about Melanies contemporaries who embody the same values as these saints reinforce the concept that everyday women can embody the same gifts that the saints do. Let the radical saints of the 20th century inspire you to face the challenges in your lifetime.

B ARB S ZYSZKIEWICZ , editor, CatholicMom.com; managing editor, Todays Catholic Teacher

When we think of radical women, we might conjure up images of screaming women with pink hats waving signs with political slogans. Or female talk show hosts, angry at a guest they dont agree with. Melanie Rigney has gathered together 21 radical women who through their Catholic faith will change that image for you. Radical Saints: 21 Women for the 21st Century is a compilation of 21 extraordinary women who lived their faith in the most radical terms by not caring what the world thought of them. In her latest book, Melanie has brought to life Catholic women of all ages who are real examples of what radicalism can mean.

P AM S PANO , Being Catholic... Really, CatholicMom.com, and Catholic365.com writer

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Mary MacKillop quotation on page 72 is used with the permission of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart.

Cover and book design by Mark Sullivan

Copyright 2020, Melanie Rigney. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-63253-311-1

Published by Franciscan Media

28 W. Liberty St.

Cincinnati, OH 45202

www.FranciscanMedia.org

Printed in the United States of America.

Printed on acid-free paper.

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Radical.

The word makes us, well, itchy. We think of people whose political beliefs are at one end of the spectrum or the other, people who wont compromise or collaborate, maybe even people who foster revolutions that upset entire nations.

How in the world could a group of women, ranging in age from nine to ninety-three at their deaths, women formally canonized by the Catholic Church for heroic virtues and associated miracles, be considered radical?

Because being a Christian is radical. The word radical comes from the Latin radicalis, meaning of or relating to a root. When Christ and his teachings are our foundation, we are on a radical path, a path people have struggled to walk for more than two thousand years. Think about it: Is there anything more radical than loving God with your entire being and loving your neighbor as yourself? Society encourages us to worship money, status, prestige, and more. Putting God before any of that? Before our own spouses, parents, children, friends, all those people we love and would do anything for? And how about loving those who look different from us or who have betrayed us, injured us, or persecuted us simply because were told God loves them every bit as much as he loves us.

Now thats radical.

I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! Jesus told the disciples (Luke 12:49). These women, from Dulce to Faustina, got that. They lived it, and they didnt care whether it cost them earthly love or respect.

They did so in a world that looked much like ours. All twenty-one saints featured in this book walked the earth in the twentieth century and were canonized in the twenty-first. (By the way, thats why Zlie Martin, who died in 1877 and was canonized in 2015, and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, who died in 1942 and was canonized in 1998, arent in this book. We had to draw the line somewhere.)

Many of these saints took trains, rode in cars or airplanes, received telegrams, talked on phones, watched television and movies, and perhaps a few knew their way around a computer. All were photographed, and many were filmed as they shared their radicalness. They had an awareness of somenot all, but someof the modern-day distractions that, when not used in moderation, threaten to crowd out room for God. And while they may not have taken selfies and had social media accounts, I think its a pretty safe bet that if they had, they wouldnt have been checking likes and shares at prayer, meals, or time with their loved ones.

Im not saying that any saint from the Blessed Virgin Mary on had an easy life. Some joys and sorrowsthe birth of a child, the loss of a spouseare eternal. Some, such as martyrdom, are difficult for people living in any age to imagine. We can learn something from each and every one of our beautiful saints regardless of the century; indeed, the women in these pages were inspired by Teresa of vila, Thrse of Lisieux, Bridget of Sweden, and others. Still, theres something especially moving and challenging about the faith and perseverance of women who actually walked the earth with us or our mothers or grandmothers.

In each chapter, youll find brief descriptions of the womans radical gift and the world in which she lived. Youll learn more about how she lived radically and find some relevant Scripture and questions for journaling or discussion, along with resources if youd like to learn more about her.

Just as important, youll find the true stories (in some cases, with names changed) of everyday women who are living these gifts in ways large and small today. Sometimes Ill share stories about the way my life has been changed by an experience or by knowing one of them. Sometimes the pairings might surprise youfor example, a schoolteacher living Gianna Beretta Mollas selflessness or a mom of two illumining the vocational devotion of a longtime carmelite. Every one of them is extraordinary in her ordinariness.