This true story of an American saint, excerpted from the offical 1300-page canonization document, is both a moving spiritual biography and an inside look at the canonization process.

The San Fernando Valley area that became the modern city of Encino has gone through a surprisingly international sequence of ownership, beginning with Native American tribes, then the Spanish and Californios, followed by the French, Basques, and Americans. In the post-World War II boom, Encino became an affluent enclave of those who portrayed all of the above on the screen: Hollywood movie and television stars. Encino originated around an artesian spring that served for several thousand years as the gathering place of three tribes: the Fernandeno, Tongva, and Chumash. This spring, which was...