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Mary Fabyan Windeatt Mary Fabyan Windeatt was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1910. Interested in music as a child, she received a degree in music from Toronto Conservatory of Music at the age of fifteen and a further degree in music from Mount Saint Vincent College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1927. This same year she moved with her family to San Diego, California, graduating from San Diego State College in 1934 with a degree in business.
She moved to New York to seek employment in the field of advertising but was unsuccessful. With time on her hands, she began to write and in 1934, she sent a story, which was accepted for publication, to a Catholic magazine. She continued to write while pursuing her studies, graduating in 1940 with a master’s degree from Columbia University.
Miss Windeatt eventually contributed verse, book reviews, short stories, and articles to thirty-three different publications and wrote numerous biographies of saints for children. The first biography, Saints in the Sky, The Story of St. Catherine of Siena, was published in 1941. Considerable research went into her books; for example, she traveled to Peru in the summer of 1941 prior to publishing Lad of Lima, The Story of Blessed Martin de Porres in 1942. (St. Martin de Porres was canonized a saint in 1962.) In addition to her biographies, she also wrote the text for twenty-eight Catholic coloring books and was a regular contributor to the monthly Dominican magazine The Torch in which many of her books originally appeared in serial form. A third-order (secular) Dominican, she has been called the “storyteller of the saints”—especially Dominican saints.
Later in life, Miss Windeatt moved near St. Meinrad’s Abbey in St. Meinrad, Indiana with her mother. She died on November 20, 1979.
Under their original titles, the series of saint biographies that Mary Fabyan Windeatt wrote in the 1940’s and 1950’s are currently out of print. However between 1991 and 1994, Tan Books and Publishers, Inc. republished twenty of these saint biographies.
Rich in Roman Catholic culture and doctrine, these books illustrate to both children and adults how the Faith was lived every day by the saints; they inspire us to know, love, and serve God as the saints did. Mary Fabyan Windeatt had the ability to relate much factual information about each saint while seasoning the narrative with the doctrinal truths they lived. While each saint shines forth in these books, these writings also reveal to us Ms. Windeatt’s own strong Catholic beliefs; her faith too lives on.
A Word About Grade Level The grade level for each Windeatt biography has been determined solely on the length of the book. The list below suggests the independent reading level of the Windeatt biographies by grade for those who prefer this method.
Third Grade:
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Fourth Grade:
King David and His Songs, The Patron Saint of First Communicants (Blessed Imelda), Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Dominic, Saint Martin de Porres, Saint Rose of Lima, and The Miraculous Medal
Fifth Grade:
Blessed Marie of New France, The Children of Fatima, Saint Benedict, and The Little Flower
Sixth Grade:
The Curé of Ars, Saint Francis Solano, Saint Hyacinth of Poland, and Saint John Masias
Seventh Grade:
Saint Louis de Montfort and Saint Paul the Apostle
Follow St. Paul (c.3-c.65) as he converts to the Christian faith, travels on three missionary journeys, writes numerous letters to early church leaders, and suffers a martyr's death.
Nicknamed "The Dumb Ox" by his classmates, this Italian saint (1225-1274) became a great theologian, Doctor of the Church, and Patron of Catholic Schools.
In 1917 our Lady appeared to three shepherd children in Portugal showing them a vision of hell and requesting all to pray the rosary daily, wear the brown scapular, and perform acts of penance to obtain world peace and the conversion of sinners.
St. John Vianney (1786 - 1859), the Patron Saint of Parish Priests, had the gift of reading souls and teaches us much about living our daily lives with cheerful sacrifice.
The most recently declared Doctor of the Church, St. Therese (1873-1897 ) taught the "Little Way" to heaven--the way of spiritual childhood. She is considered a saint of the Eucharist and has been declared the Patroness of the Missions.
Learn how our Lady directed St. Catherine Laboure (1806-1876) to have a specific image produced as a medal--a medal that came to be known as "miraculous".
This set contains both the study guides and the Windeatt biographies for each of the following titles: The Patron Saint of First Communicants (Blessed Imelda), Saint Catherine of Siena, The Miraculous Medal, and Saint Thomas Aquinas. Save even more money on the complete 4th-grade package.
This set contains both the study guides and the Windeatt biographies for each of the following titles: King David and His Songs, Saint Martin de Porres, Saint Rose of Lima, and Blessed Marie of New France. Save even more on the complete 5th-grade package.
This set contains both the study guides and the Windeatt biographies for each of the following titles: Saint Benedict, Saint Dominic, Saint John Masias, and The Children of Fatima. Save even more on the complete 6th-grade package.
This set contains both the study guides and the Windeatt biographies for each of the following titles: Saint Louis de Montfort, Saint Hyacinth of Poland, The Cure of Ars (St. John Vianney), and The Little Flower (St. Therese of Lisieux).
This set contains both the study guides and the Windeatt biographies for each of the following titles: Pauline Jaricot, Saint Francis Solano, Saint Margaret Mary, and Saint Paul the Apostle.
