From inside the Vatican, the book that became a modern classic on sainthood in the Catholic Church. Working from church documents, Kenneth Woodward shows how saint-makers decide who is worthy of the church's highest honor. He describes the investigations into lives of candidates, explains how claims for miracles are approved or rejected, and reveals the role politics -- papal and secular -- plays in the ultimate decision. From his examination of such controversial candidates as Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador and Edith Stein, a Jewish philosopher who became a nun and was gassed at Auschwitz, to his insights into the changes Pope John Paul II has instituted, Woodward opens the door on a 2,000-year-old tradition.

In 1820, a young farm boy in search of truth has a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Three years later, an angel guides him to an ancient record buried in a hill near his home. With God’s help, he translates the record and organizes the Savior’s church in the latter days. Soon others join him, accepting the invitation to become Saints through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. But opposition and violence follow those who defy old traditions to embrace restored truths. The women and men who join the church must choose whether or not they will stay true to their covenants, establish Zion, and proclaim the gospel to a troubled world. The Standard of Truth is the first book in Saints, a new, four-volume narrative history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Fast-paced, meticulously researched, Saints recounts true stories of Latter-day Saints across the globe and answers the Lord’s call to write history “for the good of the church, and for the rising generations” (Doctrine and Covenants 69:8).

Offers teachers and parents ideas and activities for stimulating spiritual growth and intellectual development in children through the study of seventeen biographies of holy men and women found in the Vision Books series.

Sixty-three Saints of the Western Church from the 1st to the 20th Century Saints are the men and women who best love Christ and His Church. They may be kings or queens, statesmen or soldiers, scholars, visionaries, workmen or beggars. They teach us the real meaning of human history, and they show us how to live in any walk of life or set of circumstances. Included in this anthology are famous saints Francis of Assisi, Dominic, Joan of Arc, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila but also more obscure ones, such as Raymond Lull and Hugh of Lincoln. Many of these saints were martyrs, killed in periods of persecution. Others died trying to bring the knowledge of Christ to pagan tribes. Yet others built up the Church through their example and their teaching, but were never called upon to shed their blood.

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"From the baptismal font to the tabernacle, the symbols we see in church stand for realities that point to the presence of God. Few Catholics, let alone non-Catholics, understand what a treasure their parish church is. This book provides the map."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved