THE WINGS OF EAGLES

The biographies of six great Catholics who achieved greatness in the following of their vocations or professions, four world-renowned, two known better to the United States, form a reliable inspirational volume. Present and accounted for are Giovanni Battista Roncalli, who always wanted to be a priest and who became Pope John XXIII, and whom Vincent Auriol of France termed ""the gentle rebel""; John Fitzgerald Kennedy; Teilhard de Chardin, an embarrassment to the Jesuits in his lifetime, whose writings published posthumously are read throughout the world; Tom Dooley, whose mission as a doctor ended with his early death at thirty-four; Father John LaFarge, ""champion of lost causes"" that he won, and editor-in-chief of America; Katherine Mary Drexel, missionary and educator and nun, who gave away $40,000,000 of her own money--and herself--in her lifetime. The author pays some attention to issues--the elder Kennedy's position on Germany, JFK's on McCarthy, for instance, although the conclusions are consistently favorable. Profiles in faith which reassure rather than probe.