What would it take for an American to be recognized among the company of saints? That is the story that Kathleen Sprows Cummings explores in her richly researched, beautifully written, and captivating new book that recounts the history of U.S. Catholics’ efforts to raise up one of their own to the saintly ranks. It reveals how long, complicated, and competitive that process could be, tracing the numerous causes for canonization that were advanced over the years, both those that succeeded as well as several that stalled. In so doing, Cummings ably reveals how these campaigns helped American Catholics demonstrate the compatibility of their religious and national identities. Securing a saint of their own was not simply a point of pride for American Catholics, but it was also a means to counter the pervasive view that Catholics were somehow un-American and to alleviate lingering suspicions that American values were somehow antithetical to Catholicism. Having one of their own among the saints would serve as a form of double vindication.

Saint-seeking was not an easy enterprise, as the proponents of various candidates for sainthood would learn. When the first causes were introduced in the late nineteenth century, campaigners discovered the challenge of compiling evidence and navigating Vatican bureaucracy. They also suffered from a lack of collective agreement on whose cause should be advanced or prioritized. One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is the horserace it describes among the various groups who each wanted to see their preferred candidate be the first to attain the honors of sainthood. The process privileged those with the means to champion their candidate's cause. As Cummings notes, saints are canonized “not simply because they were holy people,” but because dedicated individuals and groups “wanted them to be remembered as holy people—and were willing to expend a considerable amount of time, effort, and resources to ensure that they would be” (3).

Cummings is attuned to how the stories told about saintly figures have changed over time, as have Catholics’ understanding of what holiness entails. The book makes clear that notions of sanctity are not static. Each of the book's six chapters highlights a different sensibility that guided U.S. Catholics’ quest to secure a saint of their own. Early on, this included the shift from seeking a saint to represent North America to one who was more distinctively “American” through his or her specific ties to the United States. Later, by the mid-twentieth century, U.S. Catholics sought figures whose stories spoke to their status as a superpower or embodied the theological spirit of the Second Vatican Council. The final chapter relates how changes to the requirements for canonization and reforms of the saint-making process instituted by Pope John Paul II allowed more candidates to advance. The ensuing proliferation of saints has provided Catholics with abundant models of holiness, but as Cummings also suggests, it has the potential to heighten polarization within the church as partisans seek out and celebrate those whose example aligns with their own interests. Yet, given the internal diversity of the Catholic Church in the United States, it may be Catholics’ earlier assumption that they could find one saint to represent the national spirit that seems remarkable.

The cause of Elizabeth Ann Seton—the founder of the Sisters of Charity and the first native-born American to be canonized—is particularly revealing and serves as a bellwether as the story moves through its various eras. When her cause was first proposed in the late nineteenth century, many looked at Seton through the lens of Catholic triumphalism and celebrated her conversion to Catholicism as a key virtue. Later, it would be her work in Catholic education and contributions to the institutional development of the church in the United States that made her a commendable figure. Then, in the years leading up to her canonization in 1975, those who reflected upon her life began to speak more of her ministry of service and adaptiveness to society's changing needs, themes that resonated in the post-Vatican II era. If nothing else, Seton's story reveals the great influence that historians and hagiographers—both professional and popular ones alike—have in shaping conceptions of sanctity. Cummings's work encourages scholars of religion to read the lives of holy men and women (of any religious tradition) with renewed attentiveness to what they reveal about their admirers and their audiences.

This book is a remarkable achievement not simply for the fascinating story it tells, but for its ability to reveal the richness of Catholic Studies as a field. While rooted in the institutional history of the saint-making process and its formal ecclesial structures, the work also tracks changes in popular piety and lived religious experience. It highlights the unmistakably transnational character of Catholicism while never losing sight of the local conditions and distinct national circumstances that shaped developments. It probes the gendered and socially conditioned dimensions of sanctity while respecting Catholic belief in universality and immutability. Through this study of American saint-seeking, Cummings brings together the multifaceted dimensions of the Catholic experience with great skill and sophistication. The book will be of great interest to general readers, while serving as a model for scholars working in the field.