Book Reviews and More: Saint Isaac Jogues With Burning Heart - Christine Orfeo, Mary Tebo, and Barbara Kiwak

Saint Isaac Jogues:

With Burning Heart

Encounter the Saints Series Book 12

Christine Virginia Orfeo, FSP

Mary Elizabeth Tebo, FSP

Barbara Kiwak (Illustrator)

Pauline Books and Media
ISBN 9780819870636

eISBN 9781306806626

ASIN B005F1Q7CO

As a family we have read over 34 books in this series so far. I started reading this series myself, focusing on saints I knew and had devotion to. Then I started reading them with my three youngest children. My children and I love this series. We have read many of the books more than once. This is an excellent series is! Between my children and I we have now read nearly all of the books in this series. I read them either by myself, or with one or more child. My youngest 2 children ages 13, 10, still both love these books. They have read or reread them to us. My son wants to have the complete set in his room, so he keeps asking to buy his own set, because he loves these books so much. We have picked up several volumes to donate to the school library. And because of the Canadian connection this is one that we will do that for. I would love to have the whole set in the school library as a resource when the students are picking confirmation saints. Each time we read a book in the series we appreciate this series more. We hope there will be more books released in the series in the future. I would love to see how this series handles Saint Josemaria Escriva, Blessed Carlo Actus, … and many more. We would also like to eventually see eBooks of all of the volumes in the series. With my dyslexia and my son’s eye tracking issues we both prefer eBooks where we can change page color, font size and font spacing. This book has an eBook listed but I cannot find it, as it is listed at currently unavailable.

Now back to this specific book on Saint Isaac Jogues.

The description of this volume is:

“No difficulty could stop this heroic Jesuit priest. Father Isaac's greatest desire was to bring Jesus to the Native Americans he encountered in the wilderness of the New World. After being ordained to the priesthood, he was sent to Quebec, Canada to be a missionary to the Huron Indians. Working among the native populations in North America, he revealed the Good News. Tortured by the Iroquois and killed by the Mohawks, Isaac sets an admirable example of courageously sharing the faith.”

The chapters in this volume are:

1. A Mind of His Own

2. A New Home

3. To New France

4. Three Rivers

5. Among the Hurons

6. Great Suffering, Greater Joy

7. “Your Prayer Is Heard”

8. “I’m Willing…”

9. Ambush!

10. Trail of Pain

11. The First Martyr

12. Captivity

13. The Plan

14. Escape!

15. Christmas in France

16. Homecoming

17. Courageous Return

18. The Trap

19. The Darkest Night

20. The Seed

Prayer

Glossary

The prayer in this volume is:

“Saint Isaac, your love for Jesus was so great that you wanted all people to know and love him too. You gave up everything you had—even your life—to bring the Good News of Jesus to the Native peoples of North America.

Help me to grow in love each day. Help me to imitate Jesus and to lead others to him just as you did. Ask God to give me the courage I need to live my Catholic faith, especially when I have to face problems or things that make me suffer. I want to believe, hope, and love as you did. Pray for me, Saint Isaac.

Amen.”

The prayer in this volume is the same as the one in the companion volume, The Saints Pray for Us, which has prays for the first 30 saints and blessed covered in the series. This book is very moving read. I was familiar with Saint Isaac Jogues because of a couple of books on the North American Martyrs that I have read. There were several elements of his story that I was unaware of until reading this volume. The bit about his thumb was one of them, and because of that his needing special papal permission to say mass. It is explained in this way:

“Because his hands had been so mutilated, he could not hold the Host at Mass in the usual way. He would need special permission from the Pope to be able to celebrate Mass. When Pope Urban VIII heard about Father Isaac’s sufferings, he was greatly moved. He granted the needed permission at once. The Pope’s answer reached Father Isaac in March. It had been twenty months since he had last celebrated Mass! When he finally approached the altar he felt as joyful as if he were celebrating his first Mass all over again. Now he was ready to return to New France!”

The one line that really struck me from his first mission trip to Canada was:

““The number of settlers in New France is growing beyond all expectations,” Father Paul explained. “It’s remarkable to see the enthusiasm with which the colonists build their settlements.”

“But what about the native people?” Father Isaac broke in. “Are they being cared for? It is their land, after all, that we are building on.””

But his care and concern even for his captors was so inspiring to read about. Hi faith and prayer life are inspirational and the thing of legends. This book was hard to put down, and a devoured it in one sitting. Once you start you will not want to stop.

The illustrations in this volume are 5 wonderful pencil sketches. They have amazing detail. They help bring elements of the book to life in a very different way.

We have now read over 30 of the books in the Encounter the Saints Series from Pauline Books and Media. And everyone has been worth the read. Though this one is not at times an easy read it is an excellent read in a wonderful series! Very inspirational.

Please Note: I discovered recently that most of the eBook editions are no long available for this series. In fact I could only find a handful of the over 20 volumes that had been available electronically. I do not know why this is the case but I consider it a great loss. A loss for people with reading issues like my son and I, for others with learning disabilities, and for those in different geographic regions.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2021 Catholic Reading Plan!

Books about the North American Saints and Martyrs:

North American Martyrs Kids Activity Book - Bonnie Way

Saints of North America - Jean Olwen Maynard

…

Encounter the Saints Series from Pauline Books and Media: