Do you have a Saint squad?
I do! My keyring teems with their multitude in Tiny Saints; my closest friends hear about them time and again. Among this heavenly host are my tried-and-true personal patrons, others who accompanied me through certain seasons of life, and some who superintend intercessory causes important to me. Maybe the phrase “Saint squad” is a bit millennial, but I am fond of it because it sounds so . . . strong. I most certainly need spiritual backup for all the ways Christ calls me to live for Him in day-to-day life.
I believe that Saints choose us throughout our lives to make us stronger. I am even more convinced of this after reading a magnificent book entitled Unbreakable: Saints Who Inspired Saints to Moral Courage, by Kimberly Begg. At the heart of this book is the resounding truth that Saints make Saints—or “saints inspire saints,” as Begg phrases it in the introduction (xiv). With a clear and captivating approach rooted in authentic theology and historicity, Kimberly Begg masterfully depicts the spiritual landscape of a handful of holy souls.
Saintly Connections
Countless circumstances, both simple and supernatural, converge to make Saints. Begg focuses on the incredible influence that community can have on sainthood, revealing the beautifully intricate web of holy souls that emerges by Divine Providence. Unbreakable unfolds the biographies of Saint Joan of Arc, Saint José Luis Sánchez del Rio, Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko, and Saint Teresa of Calcutta, all of whom were captivated by a fervent desire for sanctity from their youth.
But there’s more to this book than just four simple stories. Each of these Saints was inspired to greater virtue by, well, ”Saint squads” of their own, you might say: saintly inspirations who lived prior to them or contemporaneously.
They encountered these notable holy influences in a variety of ways—whether through Saint stories heard at mother’s knee or as holy names invoked daily in litany and depicted in the statuaries of their parishes. Saint José Luis’s family prayed to Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego, while Mother Teresa’s deep devotion to Saint Thérèse led her to choose the same religious name. Some lives converged in time and space: when the newly-elected Pope John Paul II visited his homeland in 1979 and spoke to a crowd in Warsaw about courageously resisting the atheistic state, “sitting in one of the first rows was Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko” (138).
And so, while focusing primarily on four Saints, Kimberly Begg leaves us with compelling accounts of over a dozen of them. At appropriate times in each chapter, she transports us to another time and place, integrating the important facets of various saintly lives into a magnificent overall narrative. Just as a dropped pebble ripples outward into an entire pond’s expanse, each chapter in Unbreakable expands to encompass these shorter biographical vignettes of various saintly inspirations.
Stronger Together
The life of a Saint crystallizes with stunning completeness when viewed through the lens of holy relationship. Reading how Saint Maximilian Kolbe and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux inspired the vocations of Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko and Saint Teresa of Calcutta (respectively) increased my admiration for these earlier Saints. Unbreakable offers a profoundly clear vision of the communion of Saints: the fabric of sainthood shines brightly through the patterns of spiritual kinship woven within it.
The poet John Donne observed that “no man is an island, entire of itself” (source). There is another adage, too, that individual sticks quickly snap, while sticks in a bundle do not easily bend. These underscore that we exist for community—for communion—to strengthen us both socially and spiritually. As Unbreakable illuminates, the grace of heavenly community can grant a valor inexplicable in human terms. Contrary to all appearances, Saint Joan of Arc “had all she needed to save her beloved nation” through the counsel of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Margaret of Antioch, and the Archangel Michael (11-12). Meanwhile, the young José Luis Sánchez del Río fearlessly followed the heroic holy witnesses of many from his homeland of Mexico. The footpaths left by prior generations of Saints fortified, in those who followed, “a habit of courageously choosing Christ over their comfort” (197).
“Born at different times in different parts of the world,” the Saints in Begg’s book nonetheless “shared an extraordinary love for Christ” and the conviction that they ought to live only for Him (195). Their stories span a variety of historical epochs, political landscapes, and vocations, because the communion of Saints reaches potently through time and space, in a continuous current of grace. Unbreakable communicates the beautiful variety found in the call to holiness, but also some universal brushstrokes: two of Begg’s four primary Saints were martyrs by blood, yet all lived white martyrdom by their steadfast witness to moral courage amid challenge.
Unbreakable is a stirring book for those forming the next generation of Saints. Begg concludes the book with a rousing word to fellow parents, emphasizing that children not only need to be immersed in the lives of the Saints and the teachings of the Church but also need to “see their parents refusing to compromise on the truth . . . that ‘getting ahead’ in the world and ‘getting along’ with the world are not worth sacrificing one’s soul” (196). Her succinct list of ideas for “practicing courage for Christ in everyday moments” is especially key for parents as they model behavior for their children and for young people at the threshold of life in the world (198).
You Raise Me Up
On both the human plane and on the supernatural, we exist as persons in relationship. Just as we need friends and companions here on earth, so also, our personal sanctity does not unfold in driftless isolation. The communion of Saints we affirm each time we pray the Creed is indeed a gift from God, a beautiful pattern of interconnectedness that stretches infinitely far and wide through the spiritual life. The Lord lavishes the gift of relationship upon us to draw us towards Him, even in a manner that transcends time and eternity, earth and Heaven.
The stories of the Saints in Unbreakable truly raised me higher, reigniting my personal desire for holiness. Perhaps the only shortcoming of this book is that the final chapter breaks the trend of featuring a full “Saint squad” trio, incorporating only one holy inspiration instead. This grants a softer conclusion to the book, as stories of the two Saints in this chapter—Mother Teresa and her inspiration Saint Thérèse of Lisieux—are not as flashy as the rest. Yet the soft landing is still a strong one, for these two Saints powerfully teach that one need not die cruelly at the hands of persecutors to heroically glorify God. Moral courage can look like small things done humbly and simply, all for love.
While Begg primarily writes with parents in mind, emphasizing how these Saints developed moral virtue from childhood, there is also a broader universality and relevance to her work. I initially planned to skim this part of the book and pass it to friends who already have children of their own, but soon determined that it was a keeper for my own shelf. And for this reason, I pray it makes it onto yours. Every Saint-admiring Catholic will be deeply inspired by Unbreakable.
Leila Joy Castillo calls Florida home but left her heart in hill country long ago. An alumna of Ave Maria University, she freelances in Catholic communications and is a published writer, primarily on Blessed is She and Ascension. When not dabbling in the multitudinous Google docs of her articles, Leila delights in music, personalist philosophy, quality time with her younger siblings, and her literary trifecta: Austen, Lewis, and Dante. You can find her on Instagram @leila_joyinthejourney or follow her personal site here.
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