Saints: A Visual Almanac of the Virtuous, Pure, Praiseworthy, and Good

by Tom Morgan

For beauty, humor, pathos, and captivating detail, few stories can equal those of the Ursula was slaughtered by the Huns along with 11,000 other virgins; Joseph of Cupertino was legendary for recognizing sinners, whose faces appeared black to him; an angel dropped down a chastity belt for Thomas Aquinas. Lushly illustrated with portraits drawn from medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and contemporary sources, this elegant book offers concise, accessible retellings of over 120 saints' lives, from the renowned and popular to the obscure, together with a list of their attributes and feast days. For anyone interested in religious or art history, or for those looking either for inspiration or a patron saint, this appealing compendium is a beautiful, informative guide to the glories -- and weaknesses -- of sainthood and saints.

Genres: Religion, Christianity, Nonfiction, History, Art

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1994

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Reviews

[Susan Liston]

The author tells you in the beginning that this book "barely skims the surface" and that is accurate. There is only a tiny bit of information about any saint. The artwork is nice, but if you don't know it's origin, forget it, he doesn't bother to tell you, just that it's "found on the Internet". (I would think if you show a painting you could tell us the title and who painted it, I mean in the words of my high school drama teacher "How hard can it be?") If this was written for school, you would probably get an A, and a "nice effort" but you could learn a lot more from Wikipedia.

[Rob Jeffery]

First book from Christmas, read. Thanks Samantha. I loved it.

[Terri]

Thought it was an art book—very little information about each saint. The preface stated that each saint’s art would be showcased. Minimal art and what’s chosen is not engaging.

[Ceridwyn]

Good illustrations and a well-made book. The text was brief in its descriptions of many saints. The saint described was not always the one illustrated on the same page, which was frustrating. The chosen stories were very interesting. The book on demons seemed more informative.

[Noemi]

Beautiful! Fun stories about the saints. Brief, so not so useful as an academic source. There are a few dates missing...