Martin’s book has gotten a fair amount of attention recently; I’ve seen it mentioned two or three places, including Happy Catholic, Et Tu, and Palmetto State Thoughts.

So happens I was on jury duty last week; and so happens the courthouse was a block away from the Cathedral of the Queen of Angels (an unlovely building, but very conveniently located); and so happens the Cathedral has a large gift shop with a nice collection of books I don’t see in other bookshops, including this one. So I got it and brought it home and more or less devoured it.

What it is, more or less, is the spiritual autobiography of Fr. Martin; but it’s also the story of sixteen or so saints who have been instrumental in Fr. Martin’s life, from St. Joan and St. Therese of Lisieux to St. Thomas Aquinas to St. Joseph to St. Mary. The list includes a number of folks who haven’t been canonized, and thus aren’t officially saints, including Dorothy Day and Pedro Arrupe, former leader of the Jesuit order, but I won’t quibble. He includes as one group the Ugandan Martyrs; I was glad to hear more of their story, as long-time readers will remember we have a connection with Uganda–and twenty-three of the forty-five martyrs put to death by the King of Baganda were Anglicans.

I have a suspicion, based on an elliptical comment or two, that Fr. Martin is more towards the progressive end of the spectrum, and quite possibly more so than I’d be comfortable with; it was the progressives who made the Episcopal Church what it it is today, after all. But Fr. Martin’s deep and abiding love of God, his saints, and all his little ones in the world shows clearly through every chapter. I learned quite a bit, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

If you’ve ever wondered what saints are all about, even casually, this would be a great book to read, even if you read nothing else.