Advocates for God: The Contributions of Twenty Lawyer Saints

By Edward F. Mannino

Many notable Saints and Blesseds began their careers as practicing lawyers, government officials, judges, or law teachers. Saint Thomas More is the most well-known of these lawyer saints, but there are many others.

 

In this book, we trace the lives of several practicing lawyers who made major contributions to the Catholic faith. We present these lives in chronological order, noting the contributions made by lawyers to the Church from the third century to the twentieth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wingspan Press
• Release date: May 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781595949615

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Advocates For God

The Contributions Of Twenty Lawyer Saints

by

Edward F. Mannino

WingSpan Press

Copyright © 2020 by Edward F. Mannino

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in review.

Published in the United States and the United Kingdom

by WingSpan Press, Livermore, CA

The WingSpan name, logo and colophon are the trademarks of WingSpan Publishing.

ISBN 978-1-59594-650-8 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-1-59594-961-5 (ebk.)

First edition 2020

Printed in the United States of America

www.wingspanpress.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020907287

Back Cover: Saint Francis de Sales, a retablo by the author.

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But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you

—Gospel of John, 14:26

FOR ALL THE LAWYERS IN OUR FAMILY AND THOSE AMONG OUR FRIENDS

INTRODUCTION

Lawyers are generally unpopular today, and indeed have been throughout much of history. In Henry VI, for example, Shakespeare has Dick the Butcher proclaim that The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers. Indeed, in both popular literature and cable TV programs, particularly British mysteries, lawyers are typically seen as stuffy, prideful, out of touch, and even criminals.

Lawyers also have not faired very well in most English translations of the Bible. We find, for example, this denunciation in the Gospel of Luke: Woe…to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them. (Luke 11:46) (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition). This reference, however, best understood, is not directed at those known to us as civil and criminal lawyers. More accurate translations render the word lawyers in this and other Biblical passages as scholars of the law, that is, experts in the Mosaic law, whom we know more familiarly as scribes. See Catholic Study Bible 1377 (2d ed.) rendering of Luke 11:46, and its note on Luke 10:25. While the analogy is imperfect, these scribes may be compared to today’s canon lawyers, and not to civil or criminal lawyers.

In contrast to the scribes, many notable Saints and Blesseds began their careers as practicing lawyers, government officials, judges, or law teachers. Saint Thomas More is the most well-known of these lawyer saints, but there are many others. Saint Ambrose, for example, was a well-known advocate in Milan well before he became bishop of that city, and Saint Alphonsus Liguori had many successes as a trial lawyer in Naples, and allegedly never lost a case in his first eight years of practice.

In this book, we trace the lives of several practicing lawyers who made major contributions to the Catholic faith. We present these lives in chronological order, noting the contributions made by lawyers to the Church from the third century to