This is not your usual collection of saints. God's creative genius peopled the
fresh terrain of the United States with remarkable men and women. With the
fears, hopes, frustrations, longings, and failures of ordinary humans, the people
featured in When the Saints Came Marching In explored new frontiers in holiness.
Like those who floated the Mississippi River for the first time, scaled Pike's Peak,
or settled the unknown regions of Kentucky, they tried something new in health
care, science, education, and race or labor relations. Kathy Coffey celebrates the
remarkable lives and experience of holy explorers of faith whose stories continue
to inspire today's pioneers to discover new paths to welcome the North American
saints of tomorrow.
With her well-known insight and unique style, Coffey draws us closer to
Junípero Serra, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Pierre Toussaint, John Neumann, Julia
Greeley, Marianne Cope, Katharine Drexel, Rachel Carson, Dorothy Day, Thea
Bowman, Ruma Martyrs, Cesar Chavez, Mychal Judge, and Dorothy Stang.