For 25 years I lived as an expat in the United Kingdom, and it was there that we moved from the Anglican Church into full communion with the Catholic Church. As an Anglican, my awareness of the great fellowship of the saints was limited.
Generally speaking, we disembarked from the saintly train in the 16th century. Therefore the saints of the Counter-Reformation and all who followed were not on my radar. This included the saints of the New World – both missionaries and the native-born.
It was only on our return to my native United States that I learned about the great heroism of the North American Martyrs, whose memorial we commemorated on October 19.
