This new story from the popular Vision Books series of saints lives for youth 9-15 years old is about the inspiring life of the great missionary to the Far East, St. Francis Xavier. After his wartorn boyhood in Navarre, Francis Xavier went to the University of Paris, determined to have a good time. He was interested in sports and became broadjumping champion of his college, and did not pay much attention to his studies. At first he scoffed at this fellow student, Ignatius Loyola, a former soldier who wanted to win the world for God. But Ignatius showed him that true champions are a far more heroic breed - those who risk their all to win the world for God. Francis joined Ignatius' followers, and became one of the first members of the Society of Jesus.Francis Xavier was selected by Ignatius to do missionary work in India. To all sixteenth-century travelers, a voyage from Portugal to India meant months of deadly peril from storms, pirates, and diseases. But to Father Francis Xavier, it also meant a chance to win the Orient for Jesus Christ. This great saint's eagerness to spread the Word of God involved him with the pearl divers of the Indian coast, the natives of Malaya and the Spice Islands, the cannibals of Morotni and the hostile feudal lords of ancient Japan. This book captures the true spirit of a daring man who braved the many dangers of India and Japan in amazing adventures of courage and faith.

A Vision Book about St. Francis and St. Clare, the two very popular saints of Assisi. Helen Homan has captured all the excitement and beauty of the lives of these saints from their childhood growing up together in Assisi to their profound conversion and lifelong influence�indeed centuries-long influence�on the whole world through their radical living of the Gospel and founding of two great religious orders, the Franciscans and the Poor Clares. Combining the stories of Francis and Clare in one volume makes for a book that will be of great interest to both boys and girls of a wide age span. Illustrated. Cover art by Chris Pelicano This book is now part of Renaissance Learning's Accelerated Reader program. Quizzes are currently available.

While many books have been written about the life of Christopher Columbus and his New World discoveries, this one has a different thrust--that Columbus was not just a skilled, courageous sailor but was also a chosen instrument in the hands of God. For Latter-day Saints, this conclusion is implicit in a vision Nephi saw and recorded two thousand years or so before the time of Columbus. In relating that scripture to the fifteenth-century explorer, the author observes, modern prophets and Apostles have noted the significance of America in the Lord's plan for humankind, the historical necessity for its discovery, colonization, and development, and the raising up thereon of a free nation wherein the kingdom of God--the gospel and Church of Jesus Christ--could be restored and prospered, from which place it could go forth to all peoples in the latter days. Clearly the circumstances would call for a discoverer--the right man in the right place at the right time. This book profiles the man from Genoa who apparently yearned from childhood for the seafaring life and who early began to acquire the nautical knowledge and experience that would make him the most widely traveled seaman of his day and would help him rise to the top ranks in that career. Seized by the spirit of adventure, he began to formulate his plan for the "Enterprise of the Indies, " his dream of reaching East by sailing west. And finally, after eight frustrating years of seeking sponsorship in European courts, he persuaded Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to finance the project. But adventure was not his only incentive. Stronger than that, it seems, was his spiritual motivation. A devout Christian, he gratefully and frequently credited God with all his blessings; he saw himself as a fulfillment of prophecy in this matter, as a literal instrument in God's hands; he was certain that he was God-inspired in his passionate quest for the westward route; and moreover, a major concern of his was to bring Christianity to the natives of the "Indies." Given this kind of spirit and his seafaring skills, and acknowledging his human weaknesses, Christopher Columbus seems to have been the kind of man the Lord could use for His purposes; and, indeed, modern Apostles and prophets quoted in this book affirm that he was that instrument. This interpretation is borne out also by the story told here of his four voyages to the New World. Published in 1992, the five-hundredth anniversary year of the first and most famous of those voyages, this book brings potent reminders of the important role played by a bold and courageous man who was chosen and guided as an essential forerunner of the restoration of the gospel.

What it means to be a man or a woman is questioned today like never before. While traditional gender roles have been eroding for decades, now the very categories of male and female are being discarded with reckless abandon. How does one act like a gentleman in such confusing times? The Catholic Gentleman is a solid and practical guide to virtuous manhood. It turns to the timeless wisdom of the Catholic Church to answer the important questions men are currently asking. In short, easy- to-read chapters, the author offers pithy insights on a variety of topics, including • How to know you are an authentic man • Why our bodies matter • The value of tradition • The purpose of courtesy • What real holiness is and how to achieve it • How to deal with failure in the spiritual life

Descriptions of emigrants from 1852-1890.

Fourth in a series of award-winning children's books, Can You Find Saints? Introducing Your Child to Holy Men and Women teaches children and the adults in their lives about saints and the holy lives they led. Full of colorful and witty illustrations, the book invites children to search the illustrations for a variety of objects relating to the featured saints, from well-known saints such as Mary, Francis of Assisi and Bernadette to lesser-known saints such as Linus, Jane Frances de Chantal and Juan Diego. More than a dozen searches introduce children to saints in the Bible, patron saints, saints who worked miracles, saints who were popes, saints who founded religious orders, saints whom the Church celebrates in a special way, saints from various walks of life, saints who lived in recent times, and those people who can be called "saints in the making." To help start family and classroom discussion, a complete guide for adults is included, explaining the special items in each illustration and giving thumbnail biographies of each saint.