Author: G.K. Chesterton. Here are two biographies that many consider the best short portraits ever written of the saints. St. Francis of Assisi is a Catholic work, explaining and illuminating the life of St. Francis in a way no other biography has. St. Thomas Aquinas is enriched by Chesterton's unique ability to see the world through the saint's eyes that brings the author of the Summa vividly to life.