AMERICAN SAINTS
Five Centuries of Heroic Sanctity on the American Continents

It will come as a surprise to many, if not most, to learn that there are at least some 137 men and women who have lived in North or South America who have been beatified or canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Sixty of them were canonized and 77 beatified. Most of these, fifty of them, came from Mexico and another 33 were from Brazil. The United States and Canada together can claim eight North American Martyrs. Individually Canada boasts another twelve saints or blesseds and the United States, nine. Seven were from Peru; three each were from Colombia, Ecuador, and Paraguay; two each were from Argentina and Chile; and one each from Guatemala, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. All except eight of these were beatified or canonized within the last one hundred years or so. Of these, Pope John Paul II was responsible for the canonization of 28 and the beatification of 32 others. This little book is a fascinating, brief introduction into the lives and struggles of these saintly men and women.

About the Author: John F. Fink has spent more than fifty years in the Catholic Press, including thirty years at Our Sunday Visitor, where he was president and publisher for eleven years, and twelve years as editor-in-chief of The Criterion, the Indianapolis Archdiocesan newspaper. As editor emeritus of The Criterion since 1997, he continues to write a weekly column and editorials. He also writes a regular column and reviews books for the secular newspaper, The Indianapolis Star. The author of the Alba House books Married Saints (1999), The Doctors of the Church, 2 volumes (2000), American Saints (2001), and Letters to St. Francis de Sales (2003), he has served as president of the Catholic Press Association and of the International Federation of Catholic Press Associations. In 1981 he was given the Saint Francis de Sales Award by the Catholic Press Association for his outstanding contributions to Catholic journalism. He and his wife have seven children and ten grandchildren.