New book tells the story of 16 Catholic heroes of civil and human rights

Sister Mary Antona Ebo, a Franciscan Sister of Mary, is pictured in the front row at the center with her superior, Sister Eugene Marie Smith, as they march in Selma, Ala., March 10, 1965, to support voting rights for Black Americans. A new book from Ignatius Press, "Catholic Heroes of Civil and Human Rights: 1800s to Present," tells the story of 16 different Catholics who advocated for human dignity and is set for release Sept. 13, 2024. (OSV News photo/courtesy St. Louis Review)

The authors of a new book profiling 16 holy men and women who championed civil and human rights want readers to know: You can be a saint.

"Most importantly, they should understand that every single person, through the power of God, can do the things that these men and women did," Matthew Daniels, coauthor of "Catholic Heroes of Civil and Human Rights: 1800s to Present," said during a virtual book launch Sept. 9.


This is the cover of "Catholic Heroes of Civil and Human Rights: 1800s to Present," by Matthew Daniels and Roxanne King. (OSV News photo/courtesy Ignatius Press)

Daniels, a distinguished professor of law, political science and human rights at Anderson University in Anderson, South Carolina, and founder of the human dignity advocacy group Good of All, together with coauthor Roxanne King, former editor of the Denver Catholic Register and a freelance writer, spoke about the book at the virtual event held ahead of its Sept. 13 release.

More than 100 people registered for the hour-long event that took place on the 40th anniversary of the publication of a pastoral letter by U.S. Black Catholic bishops as a witness to Black American communities called "What We Have Seen and Heard." It also marked the feast day of St. Peter Claver, a Jesuit priest who ministered to Africans under slavery, and advocated for their human dignity, during the 17th century in Cartagena, Colombia.

Continued below.