Fox Nation To Launch 'The Saints' Series

FOX Nation will premiere Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints this Sunday, November 17th. 

Hosted, narrated and executive produced by celebrated Academy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese, the exclusive docudrama explores the remarkable stories of eight men and women who risked everything to embody humanity’s most noble and complex trait — faith. With each episode focusing on a singular saint, including Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian, and Maximillian Kolbe, Scorsese journeys over 2,000 years of history focusing on these extraordinary figures and their extreme acts of kindness, selflessness, and sacrifice.

Premiering with Liah O’Prey as Joan of Arc, the docudrama begins with the story of the Hundred Years’ War and how a devout 17-year-old daughter of small-town farmers somehow inspired the French army to break the siege of Orleans after St. Catherine, St. Margaret and St. Michael appeared to her. A fiery leader who promised to drive the English out of France, Joan’s role helped bring about the coronation of King Charles VII, and end the long, bloody conflict. After being captured in 1430 and turned over to the English, she was accused of heresy and witchcraft by Catholic Clergy sympathetic to the English cause. She was then tried by an ecclesiastical court that despised her, intimidated and threatened her.

Remaining steadfast in her beliefs, she was ultimately burned at the stake with only her heart remaining unscathed in the embers. Twenty-five years after her death, Joan of Arc was given a new trial and her sentence annulled. Sainthood would take nearly 500 years, when she was finally canonized in 1920. Today, she is the patron saint of soldiers. The episode concludes with Scorsese hosting a panel discussion about Joan of Arc with Father James Martin, Mary Karr and Paul Elie.

• CAST: Martin Scorsese (host and narrator), Liah O’Prey (Joan of Arc), Jesuit priest and editor-at-large of America magazine Father James Martin, S.J. (self), award-winning poet and bestselling author Mary Karr (self), Georgetown senior fellow and New Yorker contributor Paul Elie (self)
• WHEN: Sunday, November 17th
• WHERE: FOX Nation (www.FOXNation.com)