Saints: Seventy Stories of Faith

by Alexandra Bonfante-Warren

This year I have been interested in the saints, but I didn't know where to start looking for a book that was informative without being intimidating. A friend gave me this book for my birthday, and I immediately knew I had the introduction I was wanting. The stories of seventy saints are divided into ten categorical chapters -- from the Apostles to the Healers to the Renouncers. Each chapter then has an informative description of the lives of several saints. All of the biographical information is concise yet thoughtful. It is a delight to read. Much of this pales when compared to the quality of the book itself. This book is nicely bound, with beautiful detailing. The artwork is astounding and enhances the biographical content. The layout is consistent, which is more than can be said for many modern books. I just don't think I can recommend this book highly enough for someone who wants to learn more about saints without purchasing an enormous tome. My only dilemna is whether to put it on my coffee table or in my study. D-13

128 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1998

Reviews

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to the Saints, especially for those that aren't of the Catholic faith while having no idea what the subject matter may cover. In this case Alexandra did a great job at combining some of the more famous saints such as Saint Patrick, Saint Nicholas, Saint Joan of Arc and Saint Francis of Assisi along with some lesser known ones.

What makes this a treasured book is the artwork that is included. Some of the artwork is from much closer to modern times artwork while others go back into the Middle Ages thus you have a line of famous artists to the anonymous type. It is stunning to study the numerous styles, to see the changes, the evolving of detail and so much more. But as a heads-up there are some graphic pictures that children aren't suppose to see so I would steer this book clear from little hands.

The author split the book up into various groups of the saints such as the original group, missionaries, scholars, etc. Then each of the groups was split into a certain amount of saints who were listed in alphabetical order with their feast day underneath the name. From there the author discussed the contributions of the saint, offered possibly a story or two if there was room and of course some of the history. And at the same time you learned the history of the Catholic church or the "nation" that saint came from.

The one thing I thought was missing would have been to also include the symbol or emblem of the saints for most of the artwork of Europe focused on these individuals while the "name-card" to the artwork would have been that emblem thus the illiterate wouldn't know who they were looking at. I will confess a few of them were given the emblem in brief mention but I would have liked to have seen it for all.

All in all I know there were only 70 Saints mentioned when there are a whole bunch more than that but the book would have been so much bigger to have included all of them. All in all if you are interested in the subject matter I would read this book to get you started and then see if you can find other books that are more in-depth with the subject.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly illustrations, but the stories and legends were fascinating.