Book Reviews2 Is the US on the verge of becoming a country of many saints?

Oct 6, 2021

With a growing number of causes of canonization finding their way to the Holy See, the United States could become one of the countries with the largest number of saints canonized in the 21st century.

In his latest book for EWTN Publishing, They Might Be Saints: On the Path to Sainthood in America, Michael O’Neill provides a fascinating snapshot of the heroism, diversity and fascinating stories of a group of men and women that will see their names in parishes, charities and new ministries in the US and maybe around the world.

O’Neill, an EWTN Radio and television host, is the creator of the popular miracle-tracking website MiracleHunter.com, and his EWTN docuseries "They Might Be Saints" follows on the lives of future American saints and the search for canonization miracles.

In this book, O’Neill presents 24 American “blesseds” and “venerables,” whose causes for canonization are already underway.

As the publisher explains, in the book "you will meet young Europeans who gave up secure lives for the wilderness of America – knowing they would never see their families again; you will meet the husband and wife who, despite being slaves, showed remarkable charity to their so-called 'owners'; and you will explore the miraculously productive life of Knights of Columbus founder Fr. Michael McGivney, who died at the age of 38, as well as the 23-year-old explorer priest who covered 200,000 square miles, heard Confessions for up to 14 hours at a stretch, ate prairie rats when necessary – and founded 30 parishes."

The book also includes the lives and times of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, America’s first TV evangelist; Pierre Toussaint, once a slave, then an entrepreneur devoted to the poor; Henriette DeLille, the remarkable “Saint of New Orleans,” Fr. Augustus Tolton, the nation’s first black priest; Cornelia Connelly, whose children were stolen from her because of her conversion; Fr. Patrick Peyton, “the Rosary Priest” of Hollywood; and Frederic Baraga, missionary and first Bishop of Marquette.