What makes a hero? Is it extraordinary courage, great deeds, or the admiration of the world? Or might true heroism be found in the quiet, everyday choices through which a soul learns to love and serve God?
In Heroes of God's Church, Father P. Henry Matimore introduces young readers to twenty-five saints whose lives reveal the many different paths to holiness. From the courage of the early martyrs to the missionary zeal of St. Francis Xavier, the charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and the Little Way of St. Thérèse, these stories show that sanctity is not confined to any particular age, country, or walk of life.
The third and final volume in the Madonna Series, this fifth-grade reader was conceived as a study in character formation as well as an exercise in reading. Rather than presenting the saints as distant, almost legendary figures, Father Matimore brings out their humanity, showing them faced with real difficulties, temptations, and decisions. Their heroism lies not merely in what they accomplished, but in the virtues they practiced along the way.
Written in engaging narrative form and accompanied by black-and-white illustrations, these stories invite children not simply to admire the saints, but to follow their example—and perhaps to discover that the path to holiness begins with the choices they make each day.
NOTE: A Child's Garden of Religion Stories is the first volume in Father Matimore's three-volume Madonna Series, a collection of Catholic study readers for grades three through five. Purchase the complete Madonna Series and save 15%!
5.83" x 8.27" paperback 304 pages
“This little book, which contains the lives of twenty-five saints told in dramatic narrative for children, is a distinct step in the right direction, since it makes the saints tangible, understandable objects for the hero worship of the young.”
—The Catholic Historical Review, October 1933
Ages 9-12 · St. Augustine Academy Press
