Learn from these heroic saints who lived against the grain

The world is in a massive state of confusion. Everything that is good is under attack. What's going on, and what can everyday people do about it?

Doug Grane, author of Against the Grain: Heroic Catholics Through the Centuries, resides in suburban Chicago.

In Against the Grain: Heroic Catholics Through the Centuries I tell the story of 21 saints from 21 centuries focused on 21 virtues – and why virtue matters – especially for our time. Better understanding individuals who lived as shining examples, as signs of contradiction, who did what was right and not what was necessarily always popular. Against the Grain is a summons to heroic virtue, to sainthood, for all. To be a saint is to change the world one soul at a time.  

When the world tilts toward crazy, the desire for the heroic increases. Americans love superheroes. Feel good stories about good defeating evil. Our rational brains inform us that while comic book and movie superheroes aren’t real, we’re fascinated by them nonetheless. Why is that? Instinctively we love our military, police, firefighters, medical and everyday heroes. Heroes give us solace, energy, and hope.