Piety and Personality: The Temperaments of the Saints

by Rosemary McGuire Berry

Are you grappling with traits that feel more flawed than saintly? Whether you're impulsive like St. Peter, assertive like St. Paul, or even unpredictable like St. Mary Magdalene, your unique personality is not just a path to heaven, but a canvas for holiness.

God has designed every temperament with the capacity to reflect His glory. Jesus Christ, as in all things, is our ultimate example because he is the perfection of all four temperaments. By following Christ, we meet many saints along the way; saints who may have had the same weaknesses we face, or who endured similar trials in this life. Learning about the saints’ lives and how they used their temperaments to their advantage will orient us towards perfection in Christ.

With vivid biographical anecdotes, Rosemary McGuire Berry will show you saints who have a similar temperament to yours, and through them, you will have the opportunity to learn how to master the strengths and weaknesses of your temperament. Each chapter focuses on one saint but also incorporates others related to that temperament. The chapters include a brief biography of the saint, a discussion on his temperament via examples from his life, reflections, and tips for specific temperaments.Some saints discussed here


CholericTeresa of Á Sanguine-CholericThomas Phlegmatic-MelancholicMary SanguinePiety and The Temperaments of the Saints shows you that even the weaknesses of your temperament can be perfected in Christ. The temperaments you will learn about through these pages may also help you better understand yourself and the people around you. By understanding your temperament, you can cooperate with God’s grace by following the examples of the saints!

Genres: Catholic

216 pages, Hardcover

Published March 11, 2025

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

“How consoling it is to examine the lives of the saints, to find them so great, but with nature so similar to our own” - St. Margaret Mary

This book healed me in a way and spoke great truth into what I’ve been praying about this year. If you know me this book tracks. Thanks Anna for knowing me well! St. Teresa of Avila is my new bestie 🥰

[Faith Elizabeth Hough · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a parenting gamechanger for me. I found it so encouraging to read the lives of the saints with their personality strengths and flaws highlighted, reminding me that God made us ALL to be saints--not despite our temperaments but using them for His glory.
You may not agree one hundred percent with all the author's assessments of different saints, but don't let that keep you from gleaning all the food this book has to offer! And perhaps it will encourage you to ponder more deeply about those saints or others, growing closer to them and God in the process.

[Rebecca Tabish · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy 5 star book! This book was intriguing, interesting and engaging! I thoroughly LOVED this book and enjoyed reading about the personalities of the saints! I feel like I genuinely know them so much more now! My favorite stories are the saints that were more Choleric, but by God's grace reformed their temperament into a reflective one!

[Amanda Roche · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re a fan of the temperaments and the Saints, this is the book for you! I felt very seen by this, learned about others around me, was fascinated by the lives of the saints and had many great discussions surrounding this book!

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

"...our confidant, whether an ordained priest or a sibling or a friend, should be a "friend to our soul:" one who truly loves us in the sense that they want what is best for our soul." (pg. 185)

I saw this book quite some time ago and had my eye on it. Then I found it on a slight discount and knew this was my opportunity to get my hands on it.

For one, I really appreciated the break down of the temperaments and the emphasis the author put on using them to not just enable and excuse our weaknesses of our main temperament(s) but to acknowledge them (and our strengths) and cultivate the strengths of the other temperaments to make up for our faults so that we grow instead of remain stagnant or retrogress. We're not meant to discover our temperament and do nothing - "that's just who I am." We're meant to be discovering the strengths and weaknesses of the four temperaments to help guide us to sainthood. I also appreciated that another of the author's goals was to help us understand the temperaments of others. That when we understand their strengths, we can encourage them in God's plan for them, and know how to support them when it comes to their weaknesses.

It was also fitting that the McGuire Berry addressed the reality of two types of sadness. One is the kind that drives one to despair or apathy and despondency - it's a sadness without hope that the enemy encourages to keep us from God and true hope. The other type of sorrow is holy because it is repentant and trusts in the mercy of God. We have to be careful of the first kind of sadness! The author quotes St. Francis de Sales:
"The enemy [the devil] makes use of sadness to try the perseverance of the good. For, as he endeavors to rejoice the wicked in their sins, so he endeavors to sadden the just in their good works, and as he cannot draw them to evil unless by making them find it pleasant, so he cannot turn them away from good unless by making them find it wearisome."
The author gave us some great tips across all temperaments to work through sadness, as well.

I'll definitely be picking this one up again!

[Moyra P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly my favourite book I’ve read this year thus far! I’ve always been obsessed with personality types, structures, how they work, and how people work. So combining this with the Saints was an absolute TREAT! We have so much to learn from them, and the combination of both their strengths and weaknesses is such an inspiration to the faithful and even the secular world alike. Also did not expect to fall in love with St Mary Magdalene as much as I did during this book. That was a wonderful surprise I’ll definitely be praying with for awhile.

Also was very giddy to find out my Saint personality twin was St Joseph 🥰 Phlegmatic Meloncholics let’s gooooooo!

[Kassie R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read about some saints and their temperaments. It is always encouraging to see that the saints weren't perfect and even see that they had some of the same struggles as yourself.

[Deanne Ridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for Catholic mothers

If you are in the business of making saints for God this book will help you understand your children’s personalities and will help you lead them to God.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been curious about the four temperaments for a while now. I knew very little about them going into this book and by the end I had learned so much.

I really appreciated how Berry elaborated on the definition of each temperament: melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic, and sanguine. I also liked that she recommended how to search for an online quiz to help determine the reader’s temperament so that more could be understood from each of the saintly examples.

What wonderful saintly examples and what encouragement when I realized the traits I have are not necessarily the negative I previously thought them to be. Each trait, applied correctly, can help us and those around us as we strive for Heaven. And what a blessing those who are different from me are. I could see how they help balance out some of my traits.

I highly recommend reading this book to not only learn about the personality traits, but also about these great saints and how their traits helped and even hindered them.

Thank you to Tan Books for the copy of this book. All views are my own.