Interview
57 Stories of Saints has been in print since 1963. Tens of thousands of children have grown up reading this classic on the lives of holy men and women and children who throughout the centuries have followed Jesus. We share here an interview with the author, Sr. Anne Eileen, FSP. What was it like researching the lives of so many saints for your book 57 Stories of Saints? I was a young sister when I was asked to write this book. Because I had not read many lives of saints up until then, this was very exciting. In doing the research I learned about some fascinating people and acquired a better grasp of Church history. What part have saints played in your own life? Two saints in particular were influential in my life even before I became a sister. When I was a teenager, a quote from St. Paul impressed me during a parish mission. From then on, Paul was special in my life. He taught me a lesson early on. I prayed to him for a very good grade on an exam. However, I didn’t receive as high a mark as usual. Somehow I understood that a spectacular grade wasn’t important to Paul, and I felt ashamed that I had asked for it. I think that was really when Paul became my “father.” (I later entered the congregation called “Daughters of St. Paul.”) The second saint was Francis Xavier. I attended a Jesuit college, and there was a novena to Xavier every winter. During the novena we students would pay extra visits to the chapel to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament. During my freshman year, I didn’t know what grace to ask for. I finally asked Francis Xavier to let me know God’s will for me. By the end of the nine days, I was seriously thinking about becoming a sister. When researching and writing 57 Stories of Saints, I was impressed by the lives of many of the saints—for example, St. Paul, of course, but also St. Peter, St. Patrick (whom I consider the “Paul” of Ireland), St. Brigid, St. Margaret of Scotland, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Isaac Jogues, who was martyred not far from my hometown. All the saints lived for God and others, and thinking of them makes me want to do the same.
How do you think a child’s life changes when he or she has made friends with the saints? I think reading lives of saints can re-shape a child’s values. He or she may begin to hold some of the values that are manifested in a saint’s life. Which is your own favorite saint in the book? Among the saints whose lives I most enjoyed writing were St. Peter and St. Brigid. Each of them was very human in his or her own way, and it was fun trying to convey that human dimension through the narrative. What advice would you give children who want to follow Jesus? One way to follow Jesus is to learn about the saints. The saints loved Jesus very much, and because of this they let the Holy Spirit help them understand how to please Jesus. They learned how to do difficult things for Jesus. For example, St. Patrick went back to Ireland, where he had been a slave. The Irish were not Christians yet. Patrick risked his life and went back to teach people about God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. St. Margaret of Scotland and St. Elizabeth of Hungary were both queens, living comfortable lives, happily raising their children. But they saw beyond their comfortable homes and often went out to visit poor people and bring them help. Blessed James Alberione was a young priest when he started our congregation, the Daughters of St. Paul. He was not strong, but he worked very hard in spite of that, because he wanted people to learn to live good Christians lives. These saints asked the Holy Spirit to show them how to follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit helped them understand what to do.