Skip to content
Responsive image
Vendor
Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories

THE SAINT MAKERS

Joe Drape

Inside the Catholic Church and How a War Hero Inspired a Journey of Faith

A look inside the modern-day process of the making of a saint by New York Times bestselling author Joe Drape.
The Saint Makers chronicles the unlikely alliance between Father Hotze and Dr. Andrea Ambrosi, a country priest and a cosmopolitan Italian canon lawyer, as the two piece together the life of a long dead Korean War hero and military chaplain and fashion it into a case for eternal divinity. Joe Drape offers a front row seat to the Catholic Church's saint-making machinery - which, in many ways, has changed little in two thousand years-and examines how, or if, faith and science can co-exist.

This rich and unique narrative leads from the plains of Kansas to the opulent halls of the Vatican, through brutal Korean War prison camps, and into the stories of two individuals, Avery Gerleman and Chase Kear, whose lives were threatened by illness and injury and whose family and friends prayed to Father Kapaun, sparking miraculous recoveries in the heart of America. Gerleman is now a nurse, and Kear works as a mechanic in the aerospace industry. Both remain devoted to Father Kapaun, whose opportunity for sainthood relies in their belief and medical charts. At a time when the church has faced severe scandal and damage, and the world is at the mercy of a pandemic, this is an uplifting story about a priest who continues to an example of goodness and faith.

Ultimately, The Saint Makers is the story of a journey of faith -- for two priests separated by seventy years, for the two young athletes who were miraculously brought back to life with (or without) the intercession of the divine, as well as for readers -- and the author -- trying to understand and accept what makes a person truly worthy of the Congregation of Saints in the eyes of the Catholic Church.

Joe Drape is an award-winning sportswriter for the New York Times. He is the author of six books, including the New York Times bestsellers Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen and American Pharoah: The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Winner's Legendary Rise. His book Black Maestro was the inaugural winner of the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award. A native of Kansas City and graduate of Rockhurst High School, Drape earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Southern Methodist University. He lives in New York City with his wife and son.
Available products
Book

Published 2020-12-01 by Hachette Book Group - New York (USA)

Comments

Engaging... this profile in sainthood is humane and compelling.

An illuminating exploration of the heroism of Korean War military chaplain Emil Kapaun... [A]moving account of courage and faith in the killing fields of Korea.

In Sunday's paper, Joe explained modern Catholic canonization and the political elements of the process to the New York Post. Read more...

Joe Drape wrote an opinion piece for CNN about Father Kapaun's role as a virtuous inspiration during the pandemic. It was featured on the CNN homepage and picked up by MSN Canada. Read more...

Drape discussed the book with local NPR hub, WAMC's "The Roundtable." Read more...

In a riveting story that moves from a small town in Kansas to the halls of the Vatican, Joe Drape draws back the curtain on one of Catholicism's least-understood processes, the making of a saint. It's a story of spiritual struggle -- in prisoner-of-war-camps in Korea, in the lives of modern families praying for miraculous healing, and in the personal pilgrimage of an author alienated by scandals in the church. Drape's narrative is engaging and thought-provoking. With a combination of journalistic skepticism and religious sensitivity, he confronts the question: Why do saints matter today?

NPR/Here & Now interview Read more...

Joe detailed his journey of becoming a writer with SiriusXM's "Personally Speaking" (Catholic Channel), also streamed via Stitcher. Read more...

NBC NEWS aired a terrific feature on THE SAINT MAKERS this morning! (January 11, 2021) Read more...

THE SAINT MAKERS debuted at #1 on this week's "Hot Books" list from The National Book Review: "Hope and inspiration seem in short supply as this pandemic persists, but a bit of divine intervention seems to burst from Drape's new book... Resisting hagiography, he investigates the convoluted process of saint-making and the fascinating characters who gather evidence and led the campaign for Father Kapuan's sainthood. Drape enriches an inquiry into his own faith with a light personal touch, drawing on his Jesuit youth and reflecting the universal draw of Kapaun's heroism. Read more...

On the highest circ day of the year (Thanksgiving), The Wichita Eagle interviewed Drape about the book and his faith, particularly in light of the pandemic. Read more...

Inspiring, and beautifully written, Joe Drape's new book seamlessly combines three fascinating tales: the saga of a Catholic war hero and future saint, the story of how the church 'canonizes' a person (that is, recognizes saints) and the spiritual journey of an initially skeptical author. The Saint Makers is revelatory in truest sense of the word: it reveals Father Kapaun's astounding holiness, the church's dogged pursuit of the truth, and the author's heartfelt quest for a more authentic spiritual life.

The Catholic publication The Leaven published an article about the book, significance of the story to Kansas, and Father Kapaun's life. Read more...

The New York Times reviewed THE SAINT MAKERS by Joe Drape on a shortlist of books that gaze upward to heaven and inward to the heart, calling the book "a feel-good account" and praising its "thrilling" tales of Father Kapaun's wartime heroics. Read more...