Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #249218 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Review
"In the end, our greatest voyage is the journey we make to the heart. Saints In Love vividly describes that journey through the lives and relationships of some of our greatest spiritual adventurers. Carole Hallundbaek has carefully detailed, with great psychological insight, the intimate relationships between these saints, their personal challenges, their breakthroughs, and ultimately their pathway to fulfillment through each other. A vibrant, beautiful, and utterly useful guide for our own relationships today." -- Peter Nichols, Author, A Voyage for Madmen

"Romantic and sensual... like a walk through a secret cloister." -- Elisabeth Goodridge, September 2007

'A stunning and surprising look at saints-in-pairs and what they meant to each other's lives... Not only is the book's view of the very real and special closeness between religious male/female shining-lights a show-stopper... the author's writing is full of feeling, totally accessible scholarship and warmth, combined with wonder toward her subjects. Take time to sit down with this one... you'll be rewarded, pressed down and running over.' -- Marilis Hornidge, Author, November 1, 2007

'Hallundbaek has a poetical writing style. Her words resonate off the page, bringing the relationships of these holy pairs to life. The book is beautiful, an enchanting and insightful read, which invites the reader to discover the Holy in his or her own relationships and to learn from these masters how to love God in loving others.' -- Patrice Fagnant, Amazon.com, October 2007

From the Publisher
A romantic and practical guide to more fulfilling relationships, SAINTS IN LOVE has been nominated for several literary awards, including two Catholic Press Association Awards in 2008.

From the Back Cover
A special someone. Risks taken for love. Gossip at work. Family conflicts. Emergence from co-dependency. The quest for intimacy. Life-giving friendships. It's all in a day's love - for the saints.

Journey with award-winning author Carole Hallundbaek into the private lives and often hidden relationships of some of our most beloved saints. Each found new inspiration in life by meeting a partner who would test their courage and their ideals. Through the stories of their very human loves, we discover a romantic and practical guide to fulfilling our own relationships today -- in love, at work, with neighbors, in community, and with God.

"In the end, our greatest voyage is the journey we make to the heart. Saints In Love vividly describes that journey through the lives and relationships of some of our greatest spiritual adventurers. Carole Hallundbaek has carefully detailed, with great psychological insight, the intimate relationships between these saints, their personal challenges, their breakthroughs, and ultimately their pathway to fulfillment through each other. A vibrant, beautiful, and utterly useful guide for our own relationships today." - Peter Nichols, author, A Voyage for Madmen

Carole Hallundbaek is an award-winning author, counselor, spiritual director and consultant. She is an on-air host and commentator on religion and spirituality for national news media, and has hosted the TV program on faith, 'Winds of Change.' Carole received her graduate degrees in theology and religion from Maryknoll School of Theology and Fordham University. Co-founder of The Godspeed Institute, she lives in coastal Maine with her family.

Customer Reviews

Portraits of Saints Who Are Open to Change
"Saints in Love" is among today's fast-growing library of Christian self-help books. What distinguishes it is the freshness of language and insights that link the experiences of well-known saints to our own.

Hallundbaek takes as her templates four famous pairs, linked forever by their work and by their correspondence. They include Clare and Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, Catherine of Siena and Pope Gregory XI, Francis De Sales and Jane De Chantal.

In each case, as Hallundbaek observes of Clare and Francis, "Much of their passion, perseverance and success would come from this central point of enclosure, of being turned to each other, forsaking all others, all earthly options, all worldly distractions, both wills rooted in the love and service of God."

From the lives of people who have established or revived great religious orders and shared insights into faith that have stood the test of centuries, Hallundbaek distills guidance that makes a virtue of diversity and finds strength in differences. It is an approach with particular relevance in our own time.

Hallundbaek presents portraits of saints who are open to change - in the accepted social structure of their day and in their conception of God, which they encourage to evolve throughout their lives.

The result is a dynamic existence where religious faith and daily life interact in exciting ways - both for saints and those who seek to learn from them.

Interesting concept; poor execution
The first chapter is a bit gushy in describing the relationship between Francis of Assissi and Clare. The relationships between the remaining pairs of saints are described less breathlessly; in fact, by today's standards, they seem to reflect the typical corporate relationship between teammates, regardless of gender. Most annoying in the final chapter is the poor editing, in which quotes are attributed to Francis of Assissi instead of Francis de Sales -- despite the fact that Francis of Assissi had been dead for 500 years by this point.

A Beautiful Book
In "Saints in Love: The Forgotten Loves Between Holy Women and Men and How They Can Make Our Relationships Divine," Carole Hallundbaek explores the powerful life-changing friendships that existed between four pairs of saints: Clare and Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, Catherine of Siena and Pope Gregory XI, and Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal. "These relationships often shed light on marriage, work, family, healthy attachments, emotional healing, and more. . . Their discoveries offer valuable lessons for our relationships today - at home, at work, in community, and with God." It is interesting that she chose male-female pairs. She illustrates that contrary to popular wisdom, men and women can be friends without a physical sexual relationship although sexual complementarity certainly does play a role in the relationships.

Hallundbaek begins each chapter with a short biography of each saint, which is very helpful for placing the saints in context. She is less concerned with their individual lives, though, than with the way that their lives intersect, the impact that they had on each other, and what we can learn from their relationship. Francis and Clare lived in an era of courtly love. They were the best of friends, lived separately and never consummated their relationship, yet they were truly two people in love. "They held God first in their heart and vision; then they held each other." They "turned to each other, forsaking all others, all earthly options, all worldly distractions, both wills rooted in the love and service of God. Placing our spouse or partner beside our image of God creates the basis for a permanent longing and intimacy, because in the end, our desire for each other is our desire for God."

Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross were sixteenth-century mystics, both eventually named Doctors of the Church. Together they would work to reform the Carmelite order, to bring it back to its roots and its emphasis on poverty. Unlike Francis and Clare of Assisi, who were very similar people, John and Teresa were opposites. They appreciated the holiness in each other, but aggravated each other with their differences in management style. They were co-workers who despite their mutual appreciation sometimes struggled to get along. "Teresa and John were able to work, to love, and to be profoundly creative, through all manner of challenge, obstacle, illness, and even persecution . . .With God at the beginning and the end of all their hopes, goals, and endeavors, Teresa and John were able to take personal conflicts and limitations in stride and overcome much larger obstacles with grace."

Hallundbaek refers to Catherine of Siena and Pope Gregory XI as the "Peacemakers of Metropolis." The pair lived in the 1300s. Catherine lived in Siena, Italy where she became a Dominican at the age of 16. Gregory was "a good and honest man living in a time of great conflict and corruption." He was one of the Avignon popes during a time of great confrontation between Italy and France. Gregory decided to restore the Papacy to Rome, but it would not be an easy process, nor would he do it alone. His first advisor was St. Brigit of Sweden. When she dies in 1373, he sought out Catherine, who had become widely known for her wisdom. "Their exchanges would range over a variety of issues, but overarching these was their common desire for peace in Italy, the reform of clergy, and the return of the papal seat to Rome." This pair lived at a time of great upheaval. Through it all, they sought to live authentically, to be true to God and to themselves. They also shared a great concern for the world at large. "Catherine and Gregory always experienced and understood the interdependence of people, of families, of neighborhoods, of courts, of city-states, of countries . . . of our world with God. As a result, their ultimate goal was a community of heaven."

Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal would found the Visitation Order in the seventeenth century. He had become a lawyer to please his family, but he would eventually give it up to follow his true calling of becoming a priest and bishop. Jane was a widow who had loved her husband deeply. After his tragic death in a hunting accident, she worked to ensure the financial solvency of her family which included four children. Once that was on sure footing, she became desolate, unsure of what to do next. The pair met when Francis delivered a sermon in Dijon in 1604. "He stressed the importance of finding God right where we are, at any place, at any time, and under any circumstances." He became Jane's spiritual director. In 1610, they would found the "Congregation of the Visitation of Holy Mary." It was an order open to those who often were not welcome in other communities: widows, those in poor health, the elderly, and the physically challenged. As a true sign of the modern spirit of this movement, Jane was allowed to bring her youngest daughter with her to the community. "She would be able to raise her there, while continuing to build the order and live out her calling. . . Jane was allowed to be a mother at work."The Visitations sought to bring spirituality to the common people. "With Francis and Jane, God is experienced not only in church; God comes out of the temple and into the streets, the office, the shops, the schools. . . They understood that God is at the center of our life and all our relationships.

Hallundbaek has a poetical writing style. Her words resonate off the page, bringing the relationships of these holy pairs to life. The book is beautiful, an enchanting and insightful read, which invites the reader to discover the Holy in his or her own relationships and to learn from these masters how to love God in loving others.