A Saint of Our Own: How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics Become American By Kathleen Sprows Cummings

Abstract

Analyzing an immense collection of Vatican archival sources, Cummings persuasively demonstrates that the process of “saint-making” reflected international connections as well as understandings of American principles and identity. Studies of canonization, she argues, can reveal as much about the priorities and interests of the people promoting the candidates as they do about the lives of the prospective saints themselves.