Around the Year, Once Upon a Time Saints

Book excerpt: Ethel Pochocki, whimsically and unforgettably, presents a new set of heavenly friends to readers young and old in this third collection of Once Upon a Time Saints stories. Beginning in the dark of December, the start of the Church Year, there are stories and poems for each month, all bursting with saintly--not to mention angelic--deeds and happenings. Each tale or verse--whether of mystical apparitions in a tiny Irish village or of friars who float in the air or of entire countries single-handedly converted to Christianity--makes it quite plain that heaven doesn't keep to its place at all, but is happily determined to spill over into earthly life--here, there and . . . all around the year.