Fox Nation's 'Martin Scorsese's The Saints': A Priest's Perspective

On Nov. 17, streamer Fox Nation premiered Martin Scorsese's The Saints, an eight-episode series in which the veteran Catholic filmmaker explores the lives of seven well-known, and one lesser-known, saints of the Church.

Who Is Covered in Martin Scorsese's The Saints?

The series launched with Joan of Arc, to be followed by John the Baptist (Nov. 24), Sebastian (Dec. 1) and Maximilian Kolbe (Dec. 8). The final four, featuring Francis of Assisi, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, and Moses the Black, run in April-May 2025.

Each episode ends with Scorsese having a short conversation with three Catholic “friends” and consultants: Father James Martin, S.J.; Paul Elie, Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs at Georgetown University; and poet and memoirist Mary Karr, a feminist Catholic convert from agnosticism.

The homepage at Fox Nation offers several clips with Scorsese, a cradle Catholic who has made a trilogy of films related to faith -- The Last Temptation of Christ, Kundun and Silence -- all of them controversial in some way. The clips, in which Scorsese discusses the episodes, faith, and the Church, are available to watch without having to subscribe.

Scorsese is the host, narrator, and executive producer of the series, but it's actually the creation of Matti Leshem, an Israeli-born Hollywood filmmaker, who developed it with Lionsgate Alternative Television.

He said to Deadline.com:

“I got to tell you, most people don’t think that a proud Jew like myself is going to come up with this idea about the Saints,” Leshem said. “My dad was an Israeli ambassador. Like many of his generation who survived the Holocaust, he was a s staunch atheist, which really helped me because he didn’t care where I went to school.

“So I went to Ramaz in New York, which was a yeshiva, and then when we moved to Denmark, the best school was a Catholic school and he was like, great, go there.

“And so he sent me to this Catholic school, and, while I was actually exempt from the catechism classes, I went anyway, and I found that I liked the stories. I’ve always been interested in how people connect faith.

“And it’s complicated because many times religion gets in the way of faith. But these stories of these saints that I heard as a kid of about seven, they really stuck with me.”

A Priest's Perspective on Martin Scorsese's The Saints

I checked with Family Theater Productions producer-at-large -- also a USC film-school grad, and priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross -- Father Vince Kuna to see what he thought of the series, based on the Joan and Kolbe episodes, which were provided to the press.

Here's how he answered my questions.

From the two episodes you've seen, is The Saints series suitable for Catholic viewers?

Yes. If you’re Catholic, quite simply stated, one of the greatest living film directors, Martin Scorsese, just produced a TV series for you.

Are there any major concerns for families with younger children?

For the saint-martyr episodes, which comprise much of the series, the depiction of the suffering and death of the holy men and women is graphic. The docudrama series pulls no punches. I leave it to the parents’ discretion as to whether they will allow their young children to watch.

Editor's note: Parents should be aware that there is full frontal male nudity in the depiction of Kolbe and his fellow prisoners being herded into a starvation cell. Considering the nudity in the Kolbe episode, it would be wise for parents of younger children to pre-screen the installments, in case there is other adult-oriented material.

The conversations after the episodes features at least one person who's controversial to some Catholics, and two that most Catholics may be unfamiliar with. Did you find these conversations problematic, and do they add to the episode content?

I enjoyed the conversations of the Catholics that followed each episode. I presume the controversial Catholic you refer to is Father James Martin, S.J. The two episodes I watched did not really broach hot-button topics (i.e., sexuality). When Martin steers clear of said topics, I actually find him quite engaging.

One of his best books is My Life with the Saints, and he brings that same enthusiasm for the saints to this series.

The two Catholics, unfamiliar to some, as you mentioned, are Paul Elie and Mary Karr. Elie wrote The Life You Save May Be Your Own, four biographies in one book, considering the lives of Dorothy Day, Flannery O’Connor, Thomas Merton, and Walker Percy. It was well-received while I was in seminary.

Mary Karr converted to Catholicism after battling alcoholism much of her adult life. She’s a best-selling author and award-winning poet in the secular publishing world. She, like any of us, is a work-in-progress.

What did you think the episodes on Joan of Arc and Maximilian Kolbe did well, and where did they fall short?

The Joan of Arc episode focused on her heresy trial as prior considerations of the saint tend to do. The court transcripts from her trial are preserved and are ready-made for adaptation.

For all her piety and heavenly inspiration, Scorsese and others forget how pragmatic a historical character Joan of Arc was. She wore men’s clothing because it would have been wildly impractical to wage battle in a dress. And although the Chinese invented gunpowder, it was Joan who was the first to employ it in battle.

Each episode conveys a distinct visual look. The Maximillian Kolbe episode appears in black and white and square aspect ratio as if one were watching Alain Resnais’ Holocaust footage, Night and Fog. The effect is a stark, non-sensational articulation of Kolbe and his times.

This particular episode did not come up short in any way. I would be surprised if any subsequent episode surpassed it in quality.

What is the value of telling saints' stories, even for very familiar saints?

Saints are family. They are your spiritual brothers, sisters, grandparents, irrespective of how close or not we are to our own blood family. They’re also very human and relatable. Every saint was formerly a sinner. In that regard, you can almost make the claim they’re a better friend than Jesus.

In seminary, they always encouraged us to make Jesus a friend. I never fully bought into that because, Jesus while human, was sinless, something that rightly keeps him outside of our corrupted system.

And while we appeal to his mercy, Jesus will also judge us at the end of our lives. With the saints, they’re relatable, given our common flawed humanity, and there’s no judgement offered.

Of the full list of episodes, which of the other six are you most excited for?

Moses the Black, mostly because unlike the other saints, I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never heard of him.

Saint Sebastian will rebuke secular culture the most, and one can see why this series streams on Fox Nation.

If you could speak with Scorsese about this and his other Catholic-themed projects, what would you say?

Scorsese once said his style was most influenced by his beloved father bringing him to movies. His father often remarked, “I liked that movie, but that story would never happen in real life.”

Scorsese wanted to direct stories about real life and made an incredible, ongoing career of it. I commend him for this foray into the supernatural, while maintaining a sense of realism and avoiding hagiographies.

I would say, this first season of saints leans heavily on martyrdom. Maybe a future iteration will take on more subtle saints who weren’t put to death because of their faith.

Image: Martin Scorsese in Martin Scorsese's The Saints/Fox Nation

Click here to visit Father Vince Kuna’s IMDB page.

Kate O’Hare, a longtime entertainment journalist, is Social Media Content Manager and Blog Editor at Family Theater Productions.