«« backMarch 14, 2007 (New York, NY) -- Author of My Life with the Saints James Martin, S.J., has been selected as one of the 2007 Christopher Award recipients. The Christopher Awards are presented to writers, producers, directors and illustrators in the publishing, film, broadcast TV and cable industries whose works “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.” The 58th Annual Christopher Awards will be presented in New York City on the evening of March 15, 2007.
“The success of the book testifies to the enduring appeal of the saints, who show us that being holy simply means being yourself, no matter who you are,” said Father Martin.
With wit and wisdom, Martin, a Jesuit priest and associate editor of America, sheds new light on the saints as companions who teach us even in modern times how to lead a joyful and fulfilling life. This spiritual memoir offers, with self-effacing humor, not just a biographical overview of a wide assortment of holy men and women throughout history, but the surprising influence they have had on Father Martin’s own life. And readers have responded: after just one year the bestselling book is in its 7th printing.
“The deserved success of My Life with the Saints is the consequence of Jim Martin seeing these holy people just as their friends and relatives must have,” said Ron Hansen, award-winning author of Mariette in Ecstasy. “It's a wonderful book that fully merits a Christopher Award for its illustration of how to live in discipleship to some of the greatest teachers in the Christian tradition."
”Though Martin grew up a lukewarm Catholic with little knowledge of his faith, he can trace the presence of saints throughout his life, from a plastic mail-order statue of St. Jude he kept in his sock drawer as a teen, to a TV program on Thomas Merton that led him to the Jesuit priesthood. His real education in saints, though, came after his fast-track corporate career was replaced by his newfound faith.
Since its publication, My Life with the Saints has garnered rave reviews and caught media attention, including USA Today, Washington Post, NPR, The Boston Globe, Fox News Channel and CNN. Publishers’ Weekly named it one of the 100 “Best Books” of 2006.
America is a national Catholic weekly magazine, published by the Jesuits since 1909.