Robert Ellsberg

All Saints is a collection of short bios, ranging from a few paragraphs to 2 pages of "saints"--both traditional and modern-- whose lives are models of courage in living. There is one for every day of the year, making it an easy book for daily use.

Ellsberg's choices cover a huge range, from saints acknowledged by Christian churches to others outside of that communion whose lives are thought-provoking and challenging; a brief list demonstrates the eclectic nature.

January 1: Mary, Mother of show more Jesus (1st century)

January 7: Felix and Mary Barreda, lay apostles and martyrs (died 1983 at the hands of the contras in Nicaragua)

February 14: St. Valentine, Martyr (d. 269) of whom very little is known

March 1: George Herbert, Anglican Vicar and Poet (1593-1633)

March 26: Harriet Tubman, Abolitionist (1820-1913)

June 12: Anne Frank, Witness of the Holocaust (1929-1945)

November 9: Kristallnacht Martyrs (1938)

December 22: Chico Mendes, Brasilian Rubber Worker and Martyr (d. 1988)

as well as more traditional saints such as Benedict, Augustine, Brigid, Prisca, Teresa of Avila, and Therese of Lisieux.

These bios are not the usual pious hagiographies of people who are somehow superhuman, but down-to-earth accounts of the lives, such as we are able to glean from records in the case of the earliest saints, of real people faced with the same challenges as all of us have today. Far from being otherworldly, these saints are shown to be people who not only faced but lived up to the challenge of leading an ethical life in the midst of every circumstance guaranteed to make it difficult if not nearly impossible to do so. As such, they are worthy role models for all of us in today's life, no matter what religious or ethical persuasions we hold. show less

Gandhi was unwilling to accept Christian dogma, but in Jesus he recognized and revered one of history's great prophets of nonviolence. His criticism of contemporary Christianity was the failure of most Christians to embody the radical and revolutionary faith and action of Christ.

These diary entries written by Dorothy Day in 1948 provide an intimate look into Day's personal life as well as essential background for understanding the Catholic Worker movement, which she founded. In this book, Day writes about all facets of her life. Yet whether describing her visits to her daughter's farm or the writings of the saints, a common theme emerges, namely, the gifts of God's love and our need to respond to them with personal and social transformation. The concerns of the show more Catholic Worker movement are no less vital in our day: the disenfranchised poor, the benefits of the meaningful work, the significance of family, the dangers of increasing commercialism and secularism, the decline of moral standards, and the importance of faith. show less

"Blessed Among Women" - apparently a popular title. I'm reading about one woman per day. The quality is uneven. It's hard for me to believe the same person wrote all these vignettes! Some of them are deep and wide; others read like fables. Their collective power sweeps one along into a new sense of women present.I especially appreciated his understanding of what it means to be "virgin" as a designation in the Catholic Church. My own understanding was that being virgin meant risking show more barrenness, being empty. Mr.Ellsberg reads it as being a woman uniquely free.(pg.203)

The final pages are stunningly moving. show less