“Don’t wait until you are old to start becoming a saint.” That is a quote from St. Josemaria Escriva, and it is contained in the new book, Wisdom & Inspiration from the Saints in a Sentence, recently released by the Dead Theologians Society (DTS).
The approximately 365 quotes — one quote for each day of the year — were collected and put together in this small, colorful book complete with traditional Catholic artwork by DTS founder and director Eddie Cotter, Jr.
“The idea for this book started well over 20 years ago when I read a quote from St. John Vianney about anger,” he said. “I remember thinking way back then how good it would be to gather short bits of inspiration from the treasury of wisdom from the saints.”
Powerful evangelization tool
Cotter envisions the book as being a powerful evangelization tool for both Catholics and non-Catholics.
“I realized that a relatively small number of people in the world will actually obtain and read volumes of the works of our saints,” he said. “But by assembling a large number of the saints’ magnificent ‘one-liners’ in an easy-to-read daily devotional, it could possibly reach and better the lives of a great number of people. This is certainly the hope, anyway.”
Some of his favorite quotes include ones from St. Rose of Lima — “The gift of grace increases as the struggle increases” — and Wisconsinite Blessed Fr. Solanus Casey.
“I love his quote: ‘Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger,’” said Cotter.
Though he’d had the idea for the book for years, it wasn’t until relatively recently that he started to work on putting the book together.
“Once the idea was finally put into action, the entire process took a little less than a year to complete,” he said. “The bulk of that time was spent on research. Once that was completed, the entire process moved along quite quickly.”
Fr. Rick Heilman, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Pine Bluff, got Cotter in touch with Zip Rzeppa of Mater Media who ended up publishing the book. Ronan Lynch of Lynch Design in Swords, Ireland, did the graphic design.
“I met Ronan years ago in my many trips to Ireland,” Cotter said. “He has been a friend of many years and does beautiful work.”
The book contains a short forward from Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan of Waterford and Lismore, Ireland, and contains the Imprimatur from the Diocese of Madison.
Origin of Dead Theologians Society
Before forming DTS, Cotter worked as a director of youth ministry in Florida and then in Ohio.
“The idea for DTS began 25 years ago while I was a youth minister at a parish in Florida,” he said.
“After watching the film Dead Poets Society, an enthusiastic discussion among myself and a dozen teens ensued about how great it would be to gather in a prayerful environment to learn about the lives of our saints. Shortly thereafter, I moved to Ohio to work at a parish, and this lingering idea was actually put into practice. The first official DTS meeting had 11 teens and the resource we read from was the Didache.”
DTS has gone on to touch the lives of over 18,000 young people in over 550 parishes.
There are local chapters at St. Christopher Parish in Verona, St. Clement Parish in Lancaster, St. Mary Parish in Platteville, and St. Mary Parish in Pine Bluff.
“We’ve had DTS chapters in several foreign countries as well,” said Cotter.
In 2015, DTS received canonical standing as a Private Association of the Faithful, and it is headquartered here in the Diocese of Madison.
“I’m very grateful that DTS has its ‘canonical home’ in the Diocese of Madison,” Cotter said. “I’m grateful to Bishop Hying, [vicar general] Monsignor [James] Bartylla, [chancellor] Tim Cavanaugh, [vice chancellor] Eric Schiedermayer, Fr. Rick Heilman, and the list goes on and on.”
Visit deadtheologianssociety.com to learn more about DTS or to purchase the new book.