Called to Be Saints

One of Christina Rossetti's few nonfiction works, Called to Be Saints outlines the history of the minor festivals celebrated in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, including those for St. Andrew, St. Thomas and St. Stephen. Rossetti's strong Christian faith began when she was a child. Her mother would educate her at home and have her read religious texts as part of her curriculum. Later, when Christina became ill and suffered from bouts of depression in her early teens, her mother taught her about the Anglo-Catholic movement which formed the Church of England. Since then, religious devotion came to play a major role in Rossetti's life. In fact, three different men asked Rossetti to marry them during her lifetime, but she refused all three for religious reasons.