Martin Scorsese Spotlights History’s Boldest Saints in Fox Nation Series He ‘Didn’t Believe Was Possible’

A wrongly accused girl was burned at the stake; a man sentenced to death twice by a ruthless Roman emperor; an apostle beheaded at the whim of a vengeful queen; a Franciscan monk who sacrificed his life to save another in a Nazi death camp…

Although the backgrounds, circumstances, and contexts of their courage vary greatly, these saints share one powerful bond: their unyielding dedication and sacrifice that resonates through the ages.

Now the focus of Fox Nation’s Latest Riveting Docuseries, ‘The Saints’ – brought to the streaming service by none other than legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese – they stand as testimonies of faith, unbroken by persecution and courage, undiminished by threat.

“A 14-year-old girl hears voices – the voices of saints, the word of God. They tell her to wear men’s clothes, organize an army, lead French soldiers into battle to put the Armagnac King on the throne, which she does,” said Scorsese, “creative Godfather” of the series, as he looked back on the first episode.

If the story of this 14-year-old who cemented her role in history probably sounds familiar, that’s because it is.

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She is better known as Joan of Arc – a tenacious leader who believed she had been chosen by divine powers to save France from destruction – but her downfall came when she became known as a threat and was wrongly accused of heresy and witchcraft by the Catholic clergy who sympathized with the English cause.

“She becomes a political liability, she is captured, tried, convicted, burned at the stake and at that moment a dove flies out of the fire (as she breathes her last)…” the famed filmmaker continued.

Scorsese tells Fox Nation viewers that Joan’s entire body was burned to ashes except her heart, which miraculously remained intact and full of blood.

At least, that is the story according to witnesses.

For her, canonization would take almost 500 years, starting in 1920, when she was canonized as patron saint of soldiers by the same church that had condemned her to death.

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Series “The Saints”. begins with the deeply original and inspiring story of Joan of Arc – now available for streaming on Fox Nation – which had its world premiere on Thursday at the Whitby Hotel in New York City. The exclusive screening included a panel discussion hosted by Scorsese himself.

“I didn’t believe it was possible,” Scorsese told the live audience, explaining that the project was initially conceived seven years ago – although he “always” wanted to make this.

“I practically grew up in the St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in the center, thinking, meditating on those statues of saints, different saints, and wondering about their stories,” Scorsese explained. ‘What is a saint? Is it something superhuman? Can they achieve something more easily than we can, because we are human? I realized, “No,” he added. ‘The point is they are human.”

Scorsese, who won the Academy Award for Best Director for his 2006 masterpiece, ‘The Departed’, is no stranger to having explored the subject of faith with works such as ‘Silence’ and ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ – of which the latter he joked that it was ‘banned by everyone’. The filmmaker said he was mainly forced to do so bring history’s boldest saints to life because they all asked the question, “How can people live lives full of compassion and love?”

Another saint who embodied so much compassion and love was Polish monk Maxmilian Kolbe, whose episode was also shown in Whitby on Thursday.

His story is more modern and takes the viewer back to 1940s Europe, where, in the middle of… World War II and the HolocaustKolbe makes the ultimate sacrifice at Auschwitz, volunteering to die in the place of a stranger who had a family… and meeting a brutal end.

Kolbe, who some believed shared anti-Semitic stereotypes at the height of the war, was “converted by humanity” when, as the film shows, he died next to a Jewish prisoner after suffering torturous conditions – a man who in his last gesture he mentioned his ‘brother’.

The patron saint of prisoners – And journalists – would be canonized in 1982. The man whose life he saved was there.

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“I think (stories of the saints) started with people telling stories about men and women who did extraordinary things and were extraordinary people, who stood up against injustice and cruelty and risked their lives to help other people,” Scorsese said.

The filmmaker told his live audience how important he finds it to bring these saints to the attention of new generations, and to bring pieces from the past to the present and the future.

“Maybe the fact that there are saints, were saints and still are saints, is something that has been lost in our newest generation. Because we don’t live with them. So we thought this was a good attempt to try to understand what that is and what faith actually is.”

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Even now, years after their deaths, the saints’ legacies live on – bridging the gap between humanity and something greater.

“I had the impression that many people try to find religion outside religion… some people put their energy into politics and justice. For many there is meditation and mindfulness… in general I know there is a fear of religion, of the intimacy of faith,” Scorsese continued, “So I think the message is… we’ve seen radical love and radical redemption and radical acceptance. I use the term ‘radical’ because these things are always revealing… because of that to do (love others, etc.) .) you must expose yourself.”

“You have to take the risk of failure, embarrassment and rejection…all of this at some point, but that gives you the opportunity to look wider and deeper.”

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“Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints” will premiere in two parts, with the first four episodes releasing on Sunday, November 17, and the final one concluding in April and May 2025, spanning the holy season.

The eight episodes explores the lives of Joan of Arc, John the Baptist, Sebastian, Maximilian Kolbe, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene and Moses the Black, with Scorsese and his team traveling through more than 2,000 years of history to focus on these extraordinary figures concentrate. their extreme acts of kindness, selflessness and sacrifice.

To watch weekly episodes of ‘The Saints’, Sign up for Fox Nation and start streaming the series today. Fox Nation is offering a 3-month free trial with the promo code ‘SAINTS’.

Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.