amos, baal shem tov, bartolome de las casas, benedict, catherine of siena, charles de foucauld, clare, dorothy day, edith stein, eve, francis, franz jagerstatter, ghandi, hagar, hildegard of bingen, joan chittister, joan of arc, john xxiii, julian of norwich, kateri tekakwitha, life, martin luther king, martin of tours, mary magdalene, mother jones, oscar romero, passion, pedro arrupe, robert lentz, rumi, Saints, scholastica, simone weil, teresa of avila, the university martyrs, thomas merton 

What makes a saint? Why do we need them? For Joan Chittister, saints are "people like ourselves, reachable figures, who have lived well through situations similar to our own as proof that we too, in all of our smallness, can stretch ourselves to the limits of the best in us." In this book the icons are male and female, Christian and non-Christian, married and single, religious and lay, from different times and diverse cultures. They are activists and mystics, their holiness recognized by due process, or acclaimed by those who lived in the shadow of their lives. Like us, they are not without flaws, but so luminous in their virtues as to be a light for the ages. The author presents some of these men and women to us, reveals their special gifts, encourages us to identify with them and to follow their example.