Saints Who Battled Satan (TAN Books)

Dr. Paul Thigpen is an excellent teacher of the Catholic faith. Among the 40+ books he has written and edited, are A Year with the Saints, A Year with Mary, and Manual for Spiritual Warfare. With those recent titles, his latest book, Saints Who Battled Satan, is the logical topic choice. In Saints Who Battled Satan, Dr. Thigpen, provides us with examples of saints who fought Satan with Scripture, prayer, and the sacraments. The book begins with the story of Eve and the Fall. He sets the stage by telling us of the angelic rebellion led by Lucifer, and how his first target after he was expelled from Heaven was Eve. He then walks us through the crafty methods Satan used to cause Eve and all of humanity to fall as well. We then receive 17 chapters, one per saint, which gives brief background information on the saint, and then tells us how Satan attacked them and how they prevailed. Some of the saints include the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. Paul, and St. Dominic. Allow me to tell you about a favorite saint of mine - St. Anthony of the Desert.

St. Anthony was born in the 3rd Century to a wealthy family in Egypt. When his parents died, he made sure his sister was taken care of, and then disposed of his inheritance so that he could go out into the desert, like Jesus did. His reason for doing this was that he wanted to learn how Jesus overcame Satan and then teach it to others. Satan did not like Anthony, because he knew he would be a powerful foe if he succeeded, so he first attacked him with all the physical pleasures and comforts of the world. The second attack on St. Anthony involved Satan and a band of demons whipping him to near death. The rest of the chapter details other attacks by Satan and victories by St. Anthony. It then concludes with the details of other men joining St. Anthony in the desert to become monks as well. I pretty much know St. Anthony's story by heart, but it is always an inspiration to read through it. He shows us a perfect example of battling Satan, not with his own strength, but relying solely on God to help him. This is the only way to ever achieve victory over Satan.

The above profile of St. Anthony is just one of seventeen examples of saints who waged spiritual warfare against Satan. If the book was nothing but these profiles, that would be enough to make a compelling read. However, there is a 50 page epilogue that contains more (shorter) examples of other saints who battled saints as well as wisdom from the saints on how to fight Satan. Some of these saintly tips encourage us to pray the Our Father, pray the Sign of the Cross, use Holy Water frequently, and find strength in receiving the Eucharist. This impressive epilogue and the detailed examples of the saints make for a winning combination. I highly recommend this book for all Catholics and Christians alike, as we are all at war with Satan and need all the help we can get!

This book was provided to me for free by TAN Books in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Catholic Saints for Children and A Missal for Little Ones (Ignatius Press)

Catholic Saints for Children is one of the latest releases from Ignatius Press and Magnificat. The book is just under 100 pages, but it packs a punch in content. There are thirty saints covered in all, and they are arranged by order of their birth, with the exception of the Blessed Mother being placed before St. Joseph. In addition to well known saints, like Peter and Paul, there are some lesser known ones, like Blessed Frédéric Ozanam and Blessed Charles de Foucauld. Each saint's entry contains a one page biography, what the saint can teach us and the intercession he/she can provide, a prayer, and an illustration of the saint.

With thirty entries, you or your child could read one entry a day, and not repeat a chapter until the next month. This reduces reader fatigue that parents can often get from reading the same book over and over again, but with a book like this you will want to read it many times over. I enjoyed reading the articles on St. Benedict and St. Dominic as I have a particular affinity toward them. The book is done in the same style of The Catholic Bible for Children, which was released in 2011, both in artistry, size, and the presentation, i.e., French flaps. Thus, these two books are perfectly complementary and if you are buying one you should buy the other. Five stars!

A Missal for Little Ones is a little book designed for little hands. The book is a hardcover with a dust jacket, which means that the book is carefully crafted and designed to last. The book attempts to make the Mass as approachable as possible for young readers. The title of each section tells the child what is going on in the Mass, and the text in the chapter contains a portion of the specific prayer or a summary of what is occurring at the specific time in Mass. In the very middle of the book is a section on the Apostles' Creed. Unfortunately, it is only snippets of the Creed, which is my biggest complaint with this book. The Creed is a vital part of the Catholic faith, and the snippets in the book omit key parts, like Jesus being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Incarnation is one of the great mysteries of the Faith and should not be omitted in my opinion. The book closes with prayers for children to learn and instructing your children in the method of spontaneous prayer. Overall this was a good book, but it could have been better. It is recommended for ages 3+, but if that is the case there should be even fewer words. Also, for that age, it should probably be in the format of a board book. I guess what I am saying is that I feel like there should be two different books, one for ages 3 to 5, and one for ages 5 and up.

These books were provided to me for free by Ignatius Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found these reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!

The Catholic Baby Name Book

The Catholic Baby Name Book is another book in the CatholicMom.com series, which are available from Ave Maria Press. Other books in this series include, Imitating Mary, A Catholic Mother's Companion to Pregnancy, Small Steps for Catholic Moms, A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms, and The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa Hendey has authored two of these books and written the foreword for the remainder, so you know that each book has merit, if she stuck her name to them.

This 500+ page book is divided into two sections - Boys' Names and Girls' Names. Each section is alphabetical and contains a GLUT of names. Some of the names are expected, like Benedict or Dominic. Other names leave you scratching your head, like Dioscorus or Numidicus, and make you wonder if anyone would ever burden their child with that name. (Apologies to anyone who gave their kid either of those names.) I appreciate that Mrs. MacArthur included Old Testament names, like Aaron and Elijah, in her book. Even though they are not technically "Saints," they are important Biblical figures we believe to be in Heaven.

The book touts more than 10,000 names, which it does. However, it includes a lot of variations of what I will refer to as "main names." For example the entries Ambrosi, Ambrosius, Ambross, Ambrossye, Ambrotos, Ambroz, Ambrus, and Amby are all variations that said, "see Ambrose." For "main names," I greatly appreciate that the author provides name meaning, language of origin, and some background on the saint. At the end of the book are a few appendices which include name popularity, and my personal favorite - recently canonized Saints. Overall, this was a good book that fell short of great. I believe condensing the number of pages would help dramatically. I see the value in this book, especially for first-time expectant parents. However, it is a book that I would recommend borrowing over buying.

This book was provided to me for free from a friend. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Brother Francis: The Mass and The Saints (Herald Entertainment)

Today, is a two-for-one review day at Stuart's Study. This one is for the kids and isn't books, but DVDs. I am blessed by Herald Entertainment to review the latest two episodes in their Brother Francis series entitled The Mass and The Saints. These are episodes Six and Eight respectively. Other topics in this wonderful series include Prayer, Eucharist, Rosary, Confession, Baptism, and Christmas. It looks like the next one out will be called "Following in His Footsteps," which I imagine talks about being a disciple of Christ. I'm really hoping they make some for the rest of the Sacraments and Easter as well. But that's a different conversation. So without further ado, it's on to the reviews!

The Mass begins with Brother Francis vigorously ringing the Church bells and explaining that they are used to call people to Church. He then explains how the Mass is like a holiday or celebration and one that you can attend every day. Unfortunately, some of us (myself included) sometimes forget how special the Mass is and take for granted how lucky we are to be able to attend it so freely. He also tells us that "The Mass is not just about a ceremony and a celebration. The Mass is about Someone."

He then compares Jesus to a hero, for giving up Heaven and coming down here to die for us and our sins. We are then walked through the Mass from entering the door and crossing ourselves with Holy Water to the priest's Dismissal at the end, and reminding people to stay until the priest leaves, not sneaking out after Holy Communion. I particularly like that they included the Parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee in this DVD when explaining the Penitential Rite. This has always been one of my favorite parables, and is an excellent reminder that only in humility can we find true forgiveness. This is the perfect DVD for teaching your children or school children (8 and under) what happens at Mass, each part of Mass, and how to be respectful during Mass. 5 stars!

The Saints begins with Brother Francis teaching himself to roller-blade and falling down a lot. He asks the children to remember when they were learning to do something like how to ride a bike, swim, or read. I have to admit I wasn't sure where this was going at first, but once he said, "We all do better when we have encouragement and when we have someone to learn from," it clicked! We're going to talk about how the Saints are they to encourage us and serve as examples who have been there before us.

Before he starts talking about the Saints, he shows secular examples that adults and children look up to, such as musicians and athletes. Then, we dive into the Saints! Brother Francis explains that the Saints are like our family, even if we don't have a family. We see examples of children using the Saints in times of discouragement, but what I found fascinating was that we also see Mother Teresa (a future saint) also turned to the Saints, specifically St. Therese of Lisieux. One saint in particular receives special attention in this episode and that is John Bosco. Your children will learn a lot from this little boy, who grew up to become a great saint and led many people to Jesus. Also of great educational value is a step-by-step explanation on how people become Saints.

Both of these DVDs were as high quality as the previous six in the series. Whenever anyone asks me for good Catholic programs that their children can watch and will enjoy, Brother Francis are always the first two words out of my mouth. What's also great about this series is that it is more than DVDs. They have dozens of coloring books that correspond with the DVDs or focus on a particular saint. There are also kid-friendly Holy Cards modeled in the same style as the graphical style as the DVDs. Last, but not least, they have introduced a matching game that your young kids will both enjoy and learn a lot from!

These DVDs were provided to me for free by Herald Entertainment in exchange for an honest review!

Encyclopedia of Saints (Our Sunday Visitor)

I'm a sucker for a good reference book. If you recall, I once had ambitions to read through the entire encyclopedia. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), this never happened. With the advent of Wikipedia and religious websites like New Advent and OrthodoxWiki, hardcover encyclopedias are becoming a thing of the past. Luckily, there are still publishers like Our Sunday Visitor who are in the business of printing these hardcover texts!

Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints is the second edition of this massive tome. The first edition was published in 1998, so it was overdue for another edition, especially since Pope John Paul II canonized many saints during his reign as pope. The editors for this book are Matthew and Margaret Bunson. You might recognize these names as they were also the editors for the Encyclopedia of U.S. Catholic History. The book's tagline says, "From Aaron to Zygmunt and 10,000 in between - her are the 'holy ones' of the Church!" This tagline made me immediately turn to the end to read about St. Zygmunt. He was a "Ukrainian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph." He was beatified by Pope John Paul II and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI with his feast day on January 1st. How blessed for him to share a feast day with Mary, Mother of God.

Disclaimer: I did not read all 1,000+ pages of this encyclopedia. I read up on my favorite saints, did a lot of browsing/letting the book fall open and reading about a random saint. As this is a reference book, there is no right or wrong way to read it. I will tell you about some of my observations, though. Most saints received a few lines in the book. Some received a few paragraphs. Fewer received full pages. Those who received full pages would be considered "superstar" saints. As an example, Saint Pope John Paul II received slightly more than a full page. Early saints like St. Joseph or St. Mark the Evangelist received two paragraphs. I understand that space in this issue is at a premium; that more is known about recent saints than early saints; and that people tend to gravitate to the "superstar" saints. However, it would have been nice to see important saints get more words than they did or mentioned at all. For example, St. Augustine of Hippo received just over two pages of material. This was equal to the total space (pictures excluded) of the three Cappadocian Fathers (Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and Gregory of Nyssa).

Overall, this was a solid work. I was pleased that included both Saints and Blesseds in it. I also found the twelve (yes twelve) appendices extremely helpful. Just a few of the appendices are a glossary, list of U.S. martyrs, list of patron saints, and a list of Doctors of the Church. There was also a helpful introduction/history on the process of canonization. Was this book perfect? No, but it never will be. For starters, there will always be people, like myself, nitpicking entries and saying that they wish St. X had received more information and St. Y had received less information. However, if there was as much information printed as available, we'd need a 26 volume Encyclopedia of Saints! Also, there are new saints added every year. This book did include two of our newest saints, Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, but we could have new Saints and Blesseds next year that would then be missing from this book. You must do what I did, though, and appreciate the book for what it is. This is a well-researched, jam-packed tome for learning more about the saints in general and specific saints. Use this as a starting point for learning the basics about a particular saint, then dive deeper in your studies with primary sources and works written by them or about them to learn even more. This is a must-have book for every religion teacher, homeschooling mom, or lover of the saints!

This book was provided to me for free by Our Sunday Visitor in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Angels and Saints Review and Giveaway (Image Books)

Scott Hahn is one of the greatest converts to Catholicism in modern history. His conversion story Rome Sweet Home alone has led many to the Faith and many more back to the Faith they left. This work alone would be enough to cement his legacy, but he has written a great many other notable works, including The Lamb's Supper and A Father Who Keeps His Promises, to further expound on the faith and teach converts, cradles, and reverts alike. Lately, Dr. Hahn has been publishing high theology works, which challenge us to grow in our faith and progress from spiritual milk to spiritual meat. Dr. Hahn has returned with a new work entitled Angels and Saints, which is a return to his way of writing that helped so many of us grow in the faith so many years ago.

Angels and Saints begins with a personal story of Dr. Hahn and his family travelling in Assisi when he and his children were younger. One of his children had just had an emergency appendectomy, but the doctor said he would be okay to go on the pilgrimage. Predictably, the child was fine at first but had complications while in Assisi, and his condition became life-threatening. Doing the only thing he knew how to do, Dr. Hahn prayed all night and thankfully the child recovered miraculously. The remainder of Part I of the book explains what saints are, titles the Church bestows on holy men and women on the path to sainthood, what saints do, and a brief description of what angels are and names for the different types on angels.

In Part II, we are treated to twelve chapters with each one focusing on a specific individual in Heaven. We see great men and women like St. Michael the Archangel; Mary, Queen of Heaven; and even Old Testament great, Moses. I will be focusing on one of my favorite saints, St. Jerome. Dr. Hahn begins with a brief description of St. Jerome's early life, his genius at an early age, and his places of study. He then details the path that led him to the priesthood and eventual composition/translation of the Vulgate. The most fascinating part of this chapter discussed St. Jerome's circle of friends/students. They were mostly women, but he taught them the Bible, Biblical languages, and Biblical exegesis that some even surpassed him in some of these categories. He challenged them and they challenged him, and all grew in their wisdom and love of Christ. It was a perfect example of steel sharpening steel and proof that saints don't get to Heaven alone, but with the help of others. The chapter closes with a passage from "Against Vigilantius" and has the brilliance and sharp tongue St. Jerome was famous for.

The other eleven chapters focusing on specific holy individuals are just as brilliant as the one on St. Jerome. Dr. Hahn then closes the book by bringing us back to Assisi to discuss family and salvation and calling us all to be saints. I can't imagine how tough it was for Dr. Hahn to narrow down his choice of saints for this book. He picked some big names in the Western Church, like St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. I wish there would have been a few more Eastern saints, aside from St. Irenaeus of Lyons. It would have been great to read about St. John Chrysostom, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, or one of the Cappadocian Fathers. This does not lower my review of the book though. It is still a 5-star book, and a welcome addition to any Catholics library. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this book, please enter the giveaway below. To read an interview with Scott Hahn by my friend Sarah Reinhard click here.

This book was provided to me for free by Image Books. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!
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Pauline Books and Media - Padre Pio: Glimpse into the Miraculous

The Catholic Church has thousands upon thousands of saints in her rich history. Most of them are only known in specific regions, because there are more saints than days on the calendar, i.e., St. Eulalia. (By the way, St. Eulalia has a fascinating story that you should check out here. Thanks to my friends for naming their future daughter after her and introducing me to a saint I didn't know.) Other saints are considered giants of the faith that everybody knows, like St. Peter or St. Paul. Today, I am reviewing a book about one of these spiritual giants - Padre Pio.

Padre Pio: Glimpse into the Miraculous isn't your typical biography of a saint. The author, Fr. Pascal Cataneo, assumes you already know the basics of Padre Pio, such as when and where he was born, educated, lived, died, etc. This book is more of a spiritual biography of Padre Pio, which focuses on his many gifts and charisms. Believe me. There are TONS of accounts of the miraculous deeds that Padre Pio performed, and this book covers over 100 of them. I imagine that would be considered only a drop in the well; there are probably thousands more stories just like the ones in this book.

Fr. Cataneo organizes Padre Pio's gifts/charisms into chapters to make for easier reading. Chapter 2 addresses when he received the stigmata. Chapter 4 recounts dozen of stories where Padre Pio would gaze into people's souls and be able to tell stunning revelations about them and their sins. Chapter 5 talks about his instances of bilocation, especially with regards to the Marchioness Rizzani Boschi, who was a spiritual daughter of Padre Pio's. Chapter 6 contains accounts of the healings people received when people sought the prayers of this great man. I could go on and tell you what every chapter is about, but you get the idea.

There are many parts in this book that I would say amazed me while I was reading. Several stories in the book involve people going to Confession with Padre Pio and him listing every sin they had ever committed. They then received absolution. This was both scary and awesome to me. I couldn't help but wish that I had a chance to visit Padre Pio for the sole purpose of going to Confession with him. I can't imagine how astonishing this must have been to experience, but I bet it felt even more liberating.

Another story that was scary and sad to me was Padre Pio's conversation with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. In this conversation, Padre Pio told Lefebvre to "Never cause discord among your brothers, and always practice the rule of obedience." Lefebvre said he would follow this advice, but Padre Pio retorted that he would not. He also said he would tear apart the Church and damage the whole Church. Lefebvre ended up doing just this when he formed the Society of St. Pius X and was removed from office by Pope Paul VI.

There are many amazing stories in this book related to the wonders deeds and gifts of Padre Pio. Some you will recognize, and others you will not. Each will leave you astonished, though. In fact, the hair on my arms were standing up for most of my reading of this book. You would be considered blessed if you had just one of Padre Pio's many charisms. He was truly an amazing man who was close to God from an early age, and this 5-star book provided me with more than a glimpse of how saintly he really was. May we all strive to be saintly like him.

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Children's Corner: Holy Crocodile: Stories of Saints and the Animals Who Helped Them

Greetings to my loyal readers and hopefully some new readers! When I first started this blog, I wondered how much of a success it would be. I didn't know if people would even care what I had to say or if I would have enough books to carry this on long term. Thanks to both generous publishers for the works to read and all my faithful readers, I have officially made it to my 100th post (not necessarily my 100th review).

Holy Crocodile: Stories of Saints and the Animals Who Helped Them is written and illustrated by Caroline Cory. Ms. Cory draws on traditions from the Catholic, Orthodox, and Coptic Churches. I love this aspect of the book because it gives your kids exposure to saints they might never hear of any place else. For example, the cover and inspiration for the book's name relates to a tale of St. Pachome. We are also introduced to the stories of some lions with St. Prisca and St. Cuthbert and his sea otters to name a few.

Of all the religious children's books I have reviewed, this is by far the most visually appealing. The colors are bold and vibrant and really come alive on the page. In fact, I would go so far as to say that even if the stories within were awful, I would buy this book for the illustrations alone. Fortunately, that is not the case, as the stories within the book are just as wonderful as the artwork. I particularly enjoy the story of St. Gerasimos and the lion he saved. The lion went on to become a member of the same monastery as St. Gerasimos.

I really loved this book and have been reading it to my newborn son, who also happens to have an affinity for lions. It's never too early to teach our children about the saints and their faith, and this book does just that. I know it will be a favorite bedtime read for years to come, and I can't wait until he can focus his little eyes on the pictures better. Pick up this 5 star book for you and your kids!

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