Saints: Who They Are and How They Help You

by Elizabeth Hallam

For all the times when you need someone to call on -- for help, inspiration, or celebration -- this authoritative, readable, and entertaining book will tell you which saint you can invoke for the occasion. Whether you're looking for love, hoping for success at work, or needing to get well soon, Saints can help you find the answer to your prayers. The perfect gift book for anyone interested in history or legend, religion or selfhelp, this unique reference book of more than 150 saints is the first to group them by their patronages and specialties and to illustrate their relevance to the modern world. Saints contains a wealth of invaluable information about the lives of early and contemporary saints and answers many questions, Why is Saint Christopher invoked by travelers? Why is Saint Elmo's fire so called? And why is Saint Jude the patron saint of lost causes? From the wealth of artistic material that saints have inspired throughout the ages in painting, stained glass, and photography, more than 170 beautiful full-color and black-and-white photographs have been chosen to illustrate this gloriously rich celebration of saints. With special spreads focusing on the best-known and most intriguing saints, shrines and pilgrimage sites shown in their modern context, a calendar of feast days, an illustrated index of saints, and an alphabetical list of patronages and specialties, this comprehensive survey will be sure to intrigue, enlighten, and delight all who sense a saintly presence in

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, History, Spirituality, Christian

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Alexis Manning]

Super interesting!! Also lots of cool art in here! I was simply not prepared for how many saints got their patronages bc they were killed by that thing

[Sandra Strange]

This colorfully illustrated guide gives short sketches of each saint together with a digest of facts including the saints' birth and death dates, occupation and accomplishments, feast day, when canonized, where the saint is most honored, what the saint patrons. The author also indicates the credibility of the information. I enjoyed learning about the saints so many towns, countries, historical events and churches are named to honor.

[Chet Wallace]

A comprehensive looks at the Saints.....their stories and the reasons for their canonization including their feast days. If you are a first-time believer of patron saints then this is an excellent book to start with. Doesn't include every saint but informs the reader of the most important ones.

[Cleolinda]

Beautiful artwork, easy to browse, engagingly written. I always shelve this next to Godwin's "Angels," if that tells you anything.

[Meg]

This was a really interesting book. I learned a lot about Christians from the past. It is so amazing to read about how strong their faith was. This book covers a wide range of saints and describes their life and how they died for their faith in Jesus.

Things I liked:
- Very informative book. I wished there would have been more information, but it provides a great overview of the basic information.
- A great variety of different people with very different stories.
- Very quick read.
- Has great photos of paintings of these saints. I really enjoyed getting to see the different art, especially the medieval paintings.

[Min]

The saints are arranged by their patronage, such as, states of life (love, safe travel, family, etc), indoor professions, outdoor pursuits, animals, and diseases and ill health.
The illustrations, photographs, and paintings within are magnificent. Most are of classical works from Ancient to Modern eras. There is only one saint shared per patronage with a rather brief biography that might include feast day, important dates in their lives, their emblems, other patronages, and their cultus. The major saints such as Mary, Joseph, and Christopher are given larger entries with several more examples of art featuring them.
For the Art alone, I want to give this a five star rating because they are so beautifully rendered. The information is rather basic, however, it is a great introduction for someone that wants to learn about the saints.

[Naturegirl]

This book highlights 150 of the most popular saints by giving their history, how they were martyred, and what they are invoked for. I found this particularly interesting, especially since many of these people suffered for the sake of their beliefs, yet many of their stories are never heard by people outside of the Catholic church.