11 things to know about Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Saints’

National Catholic Register, Nov 16, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA).

On the heels of his announcement that he will make a film about the life of Jesus, controversial film director Martin Scorsese has now completed a docudrama series for Fox Nation called “The Saints.”

Discussing the project during a private screening in New York City on Nov. 14, Scorsese said this project is the fruition of an idea he’s been ruminating on for years.

“I grew up practically living in St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral downtown and contemplating, meditating on those statues, of those saints, different saints — and wondering about their stories: What is a saint? This is something superhuman? Can they achieve something easier than we can, because we’re human beings? And of course, I realize, no. The point is that they’re human and that there are aspects of them that we can have as a good example to follow or to inspire us.”

Produced as an eight-part series, the Oscar-winning director’s project focuses on the lives of St. Joan of Arc, St. Francis of Assisi, St. John the Baptist, St. Thomas Becket, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Moses the Black, St. Sebastian, and St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Created by Matti Leshem, who co-founded a production company specializing in Jewish history and Judeo-Christian dialogue, and directed by Elizabeth Chomko, who was raised Catholic, “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints” was written by Kent Jones, who has known the director for years. Scorsese developed the series but also narrates the stories in a didactic way, attempting to tell the true story of each saint, with vivid details and historical context.

Most of Scorsese’s movies have either dealt with Catholic themes directly or touch on issues surrounding virtue and vice, darkness and forgiveness. Upon seeing the series’ trailer alone, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone broached a question to his social media followers: “Wow. Martin Scorsese … coming home?”

But the theme of Catholicism has always been a constant for Scorsese, as he told the series’ writer in 2019 on the topic of forgiveness: “The profound impression of Catholicism at a very early age is something that I’ve always related back to,” he told Jones.

“One may read or become interested in many different ways. … I’m interested in how people perceive God or perceive the world of the intangible — all people, everywhere. But my way has always been through Catholicism.”

The National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, was able to watch two of the episodes at Fox Nation’s special screening in Manhattan, followed by a panel discussion where Scorsese discussed the Catholic faith, his motivations, and why the lives of saints are important.

Here are 11 things Catholics should know about this new series:

1. Martin Scorsese has long desired to bring a series on the saints to life, even before the ever-controversial “The Last Temptation of Christ” or his most recent faith film, “Silence.” But the long-awaited project finally panned out this year. Scorsese explained: “Maybe the fact that there are saints, were saints, and still are saints is something that’s lost on our newest generation. Because we don’t live with them. So we thought this was a good attempt to try and understand what that is and what faith is, really.”

2. Scorsese visited the Irish Dominican Order at San Clemente in Rome in 2023 to research matters of faith for this series as well as religious films he has in the pipeline. “The Saints” production took seven years in entirety to conceive and complete.

3. The cinematic series also features historical footage and photos of the era in which the saint lived, especially the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe. Video shows the priest leaving his home and what life was like during the Nazi invasion of Poland during World War II.

4. Due to the content and context of the stories, including graphic violence and gory details of war, the series is suitable for an adult audience; it is not meant for children. The life of St. Maximilian Kolbe also shows nudity related to his imprisonment at Auschwitz.

5. Each episode ends with a panel discussion with controversial priest Jesuit Father James Martin, known for his pro-LGBTQ activism within the Catholic Church, alongside poet and author Mary Karr and Georgetown fellow Paul Elie.

6. The series shows accurate depictions of how many saints are called as children to their vocations. In the opening sequence about St. Kolbe, he is shown as a child praying while the Blessed Mother appears to him showing her one hand of white and one hand of red, representing martyrdom.

7. In the episode on Joan of Arc, reference is made to her virginity, and twice viewers are shown the process of checking her virtue that may be considered graphic by some. Given the over-sexualized nature of many of Scorsese’s movies, the references are shown in a subtle and tasteful way. Historically, such assessments did occur.

8. The portrayal of Joan of Arc requesting a guard to make a cross for her before being burned at the stake is accurate. However, Scorsese omits the famed line: “Lift high the cross so I may see it through the flames.”

9. During the Nov. 14 panel, Scorsese spoke about Dorothy Day, who is currently being considered for sainthood, recalling a time when he was in the servant of God’s presence. “She was at our little youth center; Father Frank Principe had her come and talk. He pointed to her and said, ‘See that person; she’s really good.’ I grew up way downtown. Now, it’s a very chic area, but when I was there, it was a very down place. The Catholic Worker was the only place that I recall in terms of helping these men, some women that were dying in the streets.”

10. The episode on St. Maximilian Kolbe references controversial content regarding the priest’s alleged antisemitism, referencing a small sect that many at the time believed to be factual, but Jedrzej Giertych, author of “Libel Against a Saint,” defends Maximilian saying: “Father Kolbe was certainly not an enemy of the Jews as such, and in particular was anything but a ‘racial’ or ‘zoological’ anti-Semite. He saw in the Jews souls created by God, for which he prayed continually and whom he sought to help when they were in need.”

11. In an interview with The New York Times this week, Scorsese was asked about what his faith life looks like right now, and he said: “At times I’m a practicing Catholic. At this point, my relationship with it is a dialogue that I have with certain clerics and priests.”

Scorsese is considering several faith-based and personal projects, as he turns 82 on Sunday, including “A Life of Jesus.” Speaking to The Los Angeles Times in January upon the script’s completion, Scorsese said the inspiration for the film came last year after he met Pope Francis at the “Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination,” a conference that brought together artists and creatives from across the world. After this meeting, Scorsese said: “I have responded to the pope’s appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.