Religious Books

Helen Walker Homan contributes her third volume to the Vision Books series of saints for youth in this story of the life of the greatly beloved St. Anthony of Padua.

Homan covers many of the important and exciting events in Friar Anthony's life including a voyage to the Mohammedan land of Morocco, a shipwreck, and the meeting in Assisi with St. Francis and all of the Friars Minor. From his days as a youth to the dramatic accounts of his powerful preaching and working miracles as a follower of St. Francis, Homan presents a fascinating account of St. Anthony that youth, and all ages, will find enthralling.

Cover art by Chris Pelicano

Having lived in an era of great immorality and vice, Benedict founded an order for monks whose strong life of prayer and work helped convert the godless society around them. It tells how his Benedictine order of monks spread throughout Europe and the New World. The heroic life of his sister St. Scholastica, his saving a boy from drowning, raising one from the dead, and the story of poisoned wine are all told in this exciting, dramatic tale of a great saint. Illustrated.

Cover art by Chris Pelicano

This book is now part of Renaissance Learning's Accelerated Reader program. Quizzes are currently available.

Saint Dominic led a life of excitement and adventure. As a boy he sold his books to feed the poor and offered himself as ransom for a prisoner. As a young priest he rode with a king's cavalcade to carry a marriage offer to the princess of Denmark from the prince of Castle. But his greatest adventures came when he walked from town to town and stood fearlessly in the market places to preach the word of God.

The work of the thousands of Dominican priests and sisters alll over the world stands today--seven centuries later--as a living memorial to the sanctity of their founder.

Set against the colorful background of power struggles in imperial Rome and battling Roman legions, this is the exciting story of St. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, who found the Cross of Christ in Jerusalem. This book for young people paints a vivid portrait of a remarkable woman who overcame every obstacle with faith, hope, perseverance... and a healthy dose of ambition.

In this 29th book in the acclaimed Vision Books series for youth, Louis de Wohl, known for his masterful storytelling, describes the amazing events that led to the conversion of Helena and the rise to power of her son. He also recounts the vision Constantine experienced on the eve of a pivotal battle and his subsequent legalization of Christianity in the fourth century. The story dramatically concludes with St. Helena's final accomplishment-her dangerous and miraculous expedition to the Holy Land.

Louis de Wohl wrote numerous historical novels for adults, including The Living Wood, which is also about St. Helena and Constantine. He earned international acclaim for The Spear, and among his other popular titles are Lay Siege to Heaven, The Restless Flame, The Joyful Beggar and The Quiet Light.

Illustrated

This volume in the Vision Books series of saints for youth combines a world famous Catholic novelist, Louis de Wohl, with one of the most thrilling and dramatic saint's lives in history, St. Joan of Arc. De Wohl uses his famed narrative skill to tell young people about the brave teenage French girl who had visions and led armies in battle, but also about how her entire life testifies to the amazing power of God's grace.

It's all here: how Joan, a humble maiden in an insignificant town, was told by St. Michael the Archangel, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret to lead the French in battle against the English; how she finally succeeded in convincing the French of the truth of her mission; how she met with fantastic success but was betrayed, captured, and imprisoned; and finally, how she suffered through a politically motivated trial for heresy and was burned at the stake.

Best of all, de Wohl is not interested solely in the external details of Joan's life, but in Joan's all-encompassing love for God, which informed all her courageous actions from beginning to end. You'll not only thrill to Joan's heroism; your heart will delight in her example of loving surrender to God's will. Every detail of her life will ring out to you as a joyful witness to the grace of God.

This book is now part of Renaissance Learning's Accelerated Reader program. Quizzes are currently available.

Illustrated

This Vision book for youth tells the beautiful story of American's recently canonized saint and servant of the oppressed, St. Katharine Drexel. Born in 1858 to Francis and Emma Drexel, Katharine grew up in a happy, devout, and wealthy Catholic family in Philadelphia. Her parents were greatly loved and admired by many for their kindness and generosity to the poor and needy.

After the death of her parents the young Katharine decided to use all the fortune she had inherited to help the less fortunate in America, especially the Indians and African Americans. Acting upon the words she had heard come from a statue of Our Lady, "Freely you have received, freely give," and from the direct advice given her by Pope Leo XIII to become a missionary, Katharine Drexel became a religious sister and founded the order of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1891. Mother Katharine and her sisters worked tirelessly to serve the material and spiritual needs of the downtrodden through numerous schools and institutions she established around the country. She died in 1955, and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2001.

Cover art by Chris Pelicano

This story from the Vision Books series for youth 9 -15 years old is a beautiful story about the most popular saint of modern times, St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower. Growing up in Lisieux, France was occasionally painful but usually delightful for Therese and her four sisters. For practical Marie, studious Pauline, hot-tempered Leonie, mischievous Celine, and beautiful, lovable Therese, growing up meant growing closer to God. The Little Flower found her pathway to holiness right in her own back yard.

With their disagreements, secrets, visits to the convent, school adventures, and romances, these five girls are an enjoyable handful for their kindly, widowed father. But Therese, because she loves her family, discovers that one of her sisters might unwittingly prevent her dearest wish from coming true.

In this Vision book, Helen Walker Homan, who writes in the tradition of Louisa Mae Alcott, has created another classic of delightful family life among five sisters, one of whom became a saint.

Cover art by Chris Pelicano

This book is now part of Renaissance Learning's Accelerated Reader program. Quizzes are currently available.