Who are your favorite Saints and books about them?

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My favorite Saints are the Blessed Virgin Mary by far, then St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine for their brilliance and the theological and philosophical instruction given to us the Church Militant.
Who are yours?
And if you know, what are some good books to read about these Saints?
For St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine my favorite books are the Summa of the Summa by Peter Kreeft, and St. Augustine’s own work, City of God and Confessions.

God Bless

edit: Also another one of my favorite Saints is St. Athanasius the Great for his championing the Catholic Faith against Ariansim, a heresy that plagued my life as a JW until I converted.
 
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St. Bernard of Clairvaux is my Confirmation Saint. I like Thomas Merton’s book on him: it’s called “The Last of the Fathers”.
 
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I really enjoyed G.K. Chesterton’s book about Aquinas even though I didn’t know much about him before.

My favorite Saint is probably St. Francis of Assisi. A really good book about him is “Richest of Poor Men: The Spirituality of St Francis of Assisi” by John Moorman.

The story of a soul is also great. St. Faustina diaries are good.
 
The Apostasy That Wasn’t by Rod Bennett (not specifically about St. Athanasius but much about him in the book).

Catherine of Siena by Sigrid Undset

Edith Stein and Companions:On the Ways to Auschwitz by Fr. Paul Hamans

Four Witnesses by Rod Bennett (about early Church Fathers Clement, Ignatius, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus.

Joan of Arc by Mark Twain
 
yankeesouth said:
The Apostasy That Wasn’t by Rod Bennett (not specifically about St. Athanasius but much about him in the book).
Click to expand...
I haven’t heard of this book, but now I am going to get it. Thank you for mentioning it!

God Bless
 
  1. St. Benedict of Nursia
    “Man of Blessing: A Life of St. Benedict,” by Carmen Acevedo Butcher
  2. St. Francis of Assisi
    “God’s Fool: The Life and Times of Francis of Assisi,” by Julien Green
  3. St. Therese of Lisieux
    “The Hidden Face: A Study of Therese of Lisieux,” by Ida Frederike Gorres
 
I’m closest to Saint Josephine Bakhita. She and Saint Mother Teresa are spiritual mothers for me. I consider Saint Kateri Tekakwitha as a sister.

I really only know of books about (and by) Mother Teresa. I read one of her books (I forget which one), but anything by her, I’m sure, is wonderful reading.
 
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Saint Faustina, Saint Benedict, Saint Michael, Saint Therésa and The Blessed Mother are my absolute favorite. Currently reading Divine Mercy in my Soul and I have nothing but good things to say about it.
 
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I have so many favorite Saints. St. Therese, St. Paul, St. Irenaeus St. Mary Magdalene, St. Monica, St. Clare and Pope John Paul II. I highly recommend “The Story of a Soul” It is about St. Therese.
 
Saint Francis of Assisi

There is a historical fiction book called The Perfect Joy of Saint Francis by Felix Timmermans which is beautiful and fantastic! I highly recommend it!

May God bless you all! 🙂
 
It’s so difficult to say.
I read now Varlam Shalamov.
The writer writes how in early soviet period the millions of innocent people were unjustly imprisoned (for political, and religious convictions) and were dying from humiliations, starvation and cold.
No body calculated how many saints and martyrs were among them.
Monks, priests, national liberation revolutionaries, I think even the people who sacrificed their lives for the idea, and sincirily followed Trotskiy, but were condemned by Stalin, for the treason, and fake understanding of socialism.
MILLIONS of INNOCENT people.
Many of those people deserve eternal monument, and name in Heaven.
 
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Unfortunately the stories of Varlam Shalamov are not read by dictators in China, Iran, some African and Arabic countries where many saints and political people suffer tortures in prisons.
Shalamov 's voice didn’t prevent this world from dictators, authoritarian and totalitarian systems, even in the Russian Federation today his works are vital.
 
St. Therese of Lisieux is one of my favorite saints. I was seventeen when I read “The Story of a Soul” and it made a tremendous impression on me. Several years ago one of my grandsons, who was in high school then and loved to read books, was given that book of mine to read.

He, too, was very impressed by it.
 
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I found this question intriguing, and have thought back over the years to respond. I am a great fan of saints’ lives and have read many over the last 60 years (which reveals how old I am). Some of them I much appreciated, many were so-so, and some were poor, poorly written or parading facts about a saint’s life without insight. Here are ones I very much appreciated.
  1. St. Bonaventure’s “The life of St.Francis,” by an outstanding medieval saint. Right after Saint Francis died, there were many stories circulating about him, true and untrue. St. Bonaventure write this to get Saint Francis’ life right, going and talking with many people who had personally known Saint Francis. This like the other lives here, is a classic, and I have read it repeatedly over the years.
  1. Saint Athanasius, “The Life of Saint Anthony.” Saint Athanasius, one of the greatest Fathers of the Church," wrote the life of this 4th Century saint who retired into the desert, and who, not remaining alone there and unnoticed, was like spiritual dynamite in his times.
  2. “Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words,” by Lucia, one of the three children who encountered the Virgin Mary at Fatima. Lucia lived unto 2006, and years after Fatima she write this first-hand account of what happened. Then a sister, the bishop told her to write this account. When I was at Fatima during a pilgrimage, the guide especially recommended this book. There is also a volume II of this. A first-hand account like this one has special appeal.
  3. “The Life of Teresa of Jesus, the Autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila,” translation by E. Allison Peers. I first read this 50 years ago and it had a great impact on my spiritual life. Then I read it again every two years or so for some time.
  4. “Life of St. Catherine of Siena,” by Blessed Raymond of Capua. This life of Saint Catherine was written by her confessor and friend, Raymond of Capua, who only wrote of things her personally knew, or was told. This too tells the life of a great soul.
  5. “The Desert Fathers,” edited by Helen Waddell. This book gathers together the stories of extraordinary desert monks of the 300s. Their lives and sayings are still alive in our day, and not only in their own times.
All these books are sold on amazon.com, or you could borrow a copy via interlibrary loan at your local library to read for free.
 
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I Believe in Love by Fr. Jean d’Elbee about St Therese or rather based on her way of thinking. Also check out The End of the Present World by Charles Arminjon which greatly influenced St Therese. One of my favorite books.

St Francis and St Thomas Aquinas by G. K. Chesterton. Two classic works.

I’d like to find a biography of St Benedict Joseph Labre as he’s one of my favorite saints. Also want to read more about St Joseph, Padre Pio, Andre Bessette and Charles de Foucauld.
 
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