Fr. Pierre De Smet (1838-1875)

Grades 5-8:

Giant of the Western Trail, The Life of Fr. de Smet by Fr. Michael McHugh

Websites:

Catholic Encyclopedia

Note: De Smet, South Dakota, the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder (and the setting of her later books, including The Long Winter and These Happy Golden Years, was named after this beloved missionary.

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

This is a beautiful classic, appropriate for high school about Father Jean Marie Latour and his work in New Mexico beginning in 1851.

The Five Franciscan Martyrs of Georgia

Death came to the five Franciscan Martyrs in September, 1597, after a baptized Guale named Juanillo, living in one of the missions, took a second wife. Juanillo was the nephew of the principal tribal chief and a leading contender to succeed him. Given his importance, if he persisted in his marital infidelity, the moral life of the whole mission would be in jeopardy. It fell to Fray Pedro at the mission at Tolomato to admonish Juanillo to live the Christian faith in which he was baptized, and to warn him that the friars would not support his political aspirations should he persist in bigamy. In this he was seconded by Fray Blas in the nearby mission at Tupiquí...

From the Georgia Martyrs website

hat-tip Karen Edmisten

Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552)

Grade School:

St. Francis of the Seven Seas by Albert Nevins

College/Adult:

Set All Afire: A Novel on St. Francis Xavier by Louis de Wohl

Saint Augustine of Canterbury (England, died 605)

Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard
1963, Bethlehem Books, Sewn softcover, 179 pages, Catholic

Historical fiction account of the mission of St. Augustine of Canterbury to bring Christianity to England in 597, as seen through the eyes of a young boy accompanying the monks on the journey. While not as fast-paced as other Bethlehem Books titles, the story really brings the era to life and is a very good tale besides - full of little insights into human nature, Christian ideas and heroism.

Reviewed by Alicia Van Hecke (11-6-99)
Available from Adoremus Books, All Catholic Books, Aquinas and More, By Way of the Family, Emmanuel Books, Our Father's House, and Stella Maris Books