God's Wild Flowers: Saints with Disabilities / Pia Matthews

This important book is about a particularly rich harvest, saints with disabilities, God's wild flowers. St Thérèse of Lisieux speaks of God's living garden made of a great variety of flowers. People with disabilities are often on the margins and some find it hard to find their place in a Church that is often seen as emphasizing perfection. This book tells the stories of 141 saints and blessed, some well known and some less well known. All of them had disabilities or long term conditions ranging from cancer, physical disability to mental frailty, depression and learning difficulties. None of them were cured, and none of them were declared saints in spite of their disabilities. Given the number of people who are sick or have disabilities, it should come as no surprise that many are counted among the saints.