Read Online A Saint of Our Own How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics Become American Kathleen Sprows Cummings 9781469649474 Books
Download As PDF : A Saint of Our Own How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics Become American Kathleen Sprows Cummings 9781469649474 Books
What drove U.S. Catholics in their arduous quest, full of twists and turns over more than a century, to win an American saint? The absence of American names in the canon of the saints had left many of the faithful feeling spiritually unmoored. But while canonization may be fundamentally about holiness, it is never only about holiness, reveals Kathleen Sprows Cummings in this panoramic, passionate chronicle of American sanctity. Catholics had another reason for petitioning the Vatican to acknowledge an American holy hero.
A home-grown saint would serve as a mediator between heaven and earth, yes, but also between Catholicism and American culture. Throughout much of U.S. history, the making of a saint was also about the ways in which the members of a minority religious group defined, defended, and celebrated their identities as Americans. Their fascinatingly diverse causes for canonization—from Kateri Tekakwitha and Elizabeth Ann Seton to many others that are failed, forgotten, or still under way—represented evolving national values as Catholics made themselves at home. Cummings's vision of American sanctity shows just how much Catholics had at stake in cultivating devotion to men and women perched at the nexus of holiness and American history—until they finally felt little need to prove that they belonged.
Read Online A Saint of Our Own How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics Become American Kathleen Sprows Cummings 9781469649474 Books
"The author most assuredly had her own agenda and hammered her point in every chapter. The message I got –repeatedly- was that because there had never been any American canonized by The Holy See, American Catholics felt like a step-child in the global reach of Catholicism. I read, repeatedly, that an American saint would bring American Catholics into a closer union with the Vatican, increasing American involvement (donations?) and increasing Vatican interest in American lives. It would give credence to Catholicism (which our author considered a minority religion) as significant in American life and politics. And it would give credence to American Catholicism to the Vatican. Her arguments in this vein went on and on and on, chapter after chapter.
She touted several people whom she thought should have been considered for sainthood the past 200 years. What I understood from the book was that those she nominated were simply good and God-fearing people, but not people to whom miracles had been ascribed nor confirmed. I kept reading to find out more about the people to whom she ascribed sainthood, but never really got an understanding there.
Since this book has been available for early reading and reviewing for several months, I was wondering why no one had reviewed it either on NetGalley nor GoodReads. I appreciate this ARC from NetGalley and the U of NC Press in exchange for an honest review."
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Tags : A Saint of Our Own How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics Become American [Kathleen Sprows Cummings] on . What drove U.S. Catholics in their arduous quest, full of twists and turns over more than a century, to win an American saint? The absence of American names in the canon of the saints had left many of the faithful feeling spiritually unmoored. But while canonization may be fundamentally about holiness,Kathleen Sprows Cummings,A Saint of Our Own How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics Become American,The University of North Carolina Press,1469649470,Canonization,Catholic Church - United States - History,Catholics - Religious identity - United States,CHURCH HISTORY,Catholic Church; American Catholicism; Vatican; Catholics in the United States; the canonization process; beatification; Rome; how to make a saint; North American Martyrs; Elizabeth Ann Seton; Kateri Tekakwitha; John Neumann; Frances Cabrini; Rose Philippine Duchesne; Katharine Drexel; Junipero Serra; saints; missionaries; religious; nuns; priests; Catholic women; Catholic immigrants; Sisters of Charity,General Adult,HISTORY / United States / General,History,History/United States - General,Inspirational/Devotional,Non-Fiction,RELIGION / Christian Theology / Angelology Demonology,RELIGION / Christianity / Catholic,RELIGION / Christianity / Saints Sainthood,RELIGION / History,ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH,Religion/Christianity - Catholic,Religion/Ethics,Religion/History,UNIVERSITY PRESS,United States
A Saint of Our Own How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics Become American Kathleen Sprows Cummings 9781469649474 Books Reviews :
A Saint of Our Own How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics Become American Kathleen Sprows Cummings 9781469649474 Books Reviews
- “A Saint of Our Own†is a a scholarly rand fascinating work. The author’s scholarship shines through her writing as does the overwhelming amount of research invested in this work. The subject matter and the manner in which it is presented do not make recreational reading. However, because of its organization, this is not a book to buy for reference. I’d purchase the book, place it with the rest of my saint books, and dip into it every-so-often. The author’s premise is that Americans needed a Saint of their own to feel equal with Catholics in countries from which they immigranted, and of worth to the Vatican hierarchy. She hammers at this premise a bit much, but uses it to validate those who have been thought to be worthy of sainthood, but whose sponsors had a hard time getting them to sainthood.. In many ways the history of these good and holy men and women parallel the history of the U.S. Readers need to look elsewhere than this volume for the stories of these American saints for the author writes about them as though the reader was intimately acquainted with them. I offered to review an ARC of this book because I am Roman Catholic, and I do have above average knowledge about American saints. I also thought I had a decent grasp of the canonization process until I read “A Saint of Our Own.†Knowledgeable Roman Catholics might like the scholarship and depth of this book, but others would have a difficult grasp of the information presented without doing extraneous research. Have American saints helped American Catholics especially those of the first and second generation feel closer and “more†American? Perhaps it is up to individual Catholics to answer that question.
- The author most assuredly had her own agenda and hammered her point in every chapter. The message I got –repeatedly- was that because there had never been any American canonized by The Holy See, American Catholics felt like a step-child in the global reach of Catholicism. I read, repeatedly, that an American saint would bring American Catholics into a closer union with the Vatican, increasing American involvement (donations?) and increasing Vatican interest in American lives. It would give credence to Catholicism (which our author considered a minority religion) as significant in American life and politics. And it would give credence to American Catholicism to the Vatican. Her arguments in this vein went on and on and on, chapter after chapter.
She touted several people whom she thought should have been considered for sainthood the past 200 years. What I understood from the book was that those she nominated were simply good and God-fearing people, but not people to whom miracles had been ascribed nor confirmed. I kept reading to find out more about the people to whom she ascribed sainthood, but never really got an understanding there.
Since this book has been available for early reading and reviewing for several months, I was wondering why no one had reviewed it either on NetGalley nor GoodReads. I appreciate this ARC from NetGalley and the U of NC Press in exchange for an honest review.
