It is certainly not the same thing to talk about hagiography, or the life of a saint, as it is to talk about a book that gathers hundreds of them. Literally 366, because the author saw fit to include St. Dositheus on February 29 and not to forget that, even every four years, there is always much to celebrate in the Church.
The reissue of The house of the saints is one of those decisions for which we should be grateful to Catholic publishers. In this case, CEU editions picks up the baton from that first edition of The house of the saints that published Rialp in the early nineties of the last century.
Its author, Carlos Pujol, collects not only the history but also part of the legacy, the artistic manifestations and a reflection, fully current and full of common sense, of one of the most important saints and saints which, on each day of the year, the Church proposes as an example of life.
The house of saints. A saint for every day of the year
The result is a collection of stories that point to a common point, you and I can and should be saints. Because "there are saints, there are saints" of all kinds and conditions.
We find well-known saints such as Charles Borromeo, John Baptist de la Salle or Teresa of the Child Jesus, but did you know Saint Pafnucio, who is celebrated on September 11? Could you tell us something about the life of Saint Liduvina or Saint Hospice? Do you know when the Church celebrates Saint Dimas, the saint "in extremis"? Well, all of them are part of that catalog of the santos to which all Christians are called to belong.
Although The house of the saints does not present itself as a scholarly study on holiness, the reality is that, among its pages, we find nuns, mothers of families, priests and hermits, queens and the poor. The book also includes feasts and memories of ancient tradition such as the visitation of the Virgin Mary, the faithful departed or Christmas. It is not a study but it is, without a doubt, a thoughtful consideration of the universal call to holiness.
Short stories, to be read in a couple of minutes and that awaken, without a doubt, the desire to know more about the lives of these men and women, of all times, who made God the beginning and the end of their lives... not without certain vicissitudes in their stories.
The commentaries, vibrant and full of supernatural and human meaning, are an undeniable help in identifying the reality of these stories of holiness in our own lives.
More than three decades ago, Pujol included some saints who have been canonized in recent years and whose biographies were entrusted to friends and admirers of Carlos Pujol. Catholic Association of Propagandists does not forget Luis Campos, Ricardo Plá, Alfonso Sebastiá, Luis Belda and Miguel Vilatimó, all of them martyrs of the religious persecution in Spain in the years 1936 - 1939 and blessed belonging to the ACdP.
