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The Book of Saints: A Day-By-Day Illustrated Encyclopedia
A lavishly illustrated reference guide to over five-hundred Christian saints, organized by the calendar year and featuring about six-hundred works of art.Organized by feast day throughout the calendar year, The Book of Saints is both a definitive reference work and a spectacular art book. Featuring fascinating stories of more than five-hundred saints from around the world, the book includes approximately six-hundred works of historic and contemporary art. This extraordinary reference book is a stunning keepsake and essential resource that makes a perfect christening, confirmation, or birthday gift, and is a great addition to any family library. The Book of Saints is an illustrated treasury of compelling information for the devout and the culturally inquisitive alike.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
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About the author
Weldon Owen
302 books52 followersWeldon Owen is an imprint of Insight Editions, a publisher of illustrated books on food & drink, photography, music, and popular culture. Elegant and informative, Weldon Owen titles showcase the best of art, photography, and design in exquisite presentations of the bookmaker's craft. They are located in San Rafael, CA.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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December 30, 2025This book is gorgeous! There are lots of full-color illustrations, oftentimes from classic paintings. It is worth at least flipping through for that.
What's really weird about the book, though, is that it is sort of confusing in terms of its affiliation. There are mostly traditional Catholic saints, but there's an attempt at ecumenism that makes the book jarring to read, particularly since most Protestants don't venerate the saints in anywhere near the same way. Martin Luther King Jr. is in the book under January 15. Martin Luther himself has a page. When I opened the book, the first person I came across was Thomas Cranmer, who arranged for Henry VIII to divorce his first wife and was instrumental in the actual creation of the Anglican Church. So, I knew what I was getting into.
This is a fun book to check out of the library to see the gorgeous art. The mixed affiliations (with obviously different authors) also makes the book interesting. It's a poor book for young children's faith formation, regardless of your faith, because of the lack of clarity and consistency of perspective.
What's really weird about the book, though, is that it is sort of confusing in terms of its affiliation. There are mostly traditional Catholic saints, but there's an attempt at ecumenism that makes the book jarring to read, particularly since most Protestants don't venerate the saints in anywhere near the same way. Martin Luther King Jr. is in the book under January 15. Martin Luther himself has a page. When I opened the book, the first person I came across was Thomas Cranmer, who arranged for Henry VIII to divorce his first wife and was instrumental in the actual creation of the Anglican Church. So, I knew what I was getting into.
This is a fun book to check out of the library to see the gorgeous art. The mixed affiliations (with obviously different authors) also makes the book interesting. It's a poor book for young children's faith formation, regardless of your faith, because of the lack of clarity and consistency of perspective.
February 5, 2022
Buy the actual Book not Kindle
This is obviously a beautiful illustrated book. I would purchase the hardcover and not Kindle. Be prepared to use a magnifying glass as each page is photographed for Kindle. Therefore you can only enlarge the page as you would a photo. In addition the words are sometimes in fancy text and different sizes, in addition to being on various colored backgrounds. This makes it very hard to read. One of the superior abilities of Kindle is to be able to enlarge the texts. Do not expect to do this with the Kindle version.
This is obviously a beautiful illustrated book. I would purchase the hardcover and not Kindle. Be prepared to use a magnifying glass as each page is photographed for Kindle. Therefore you can only enlarge the page as you would a photo. In addition the words are sometimes in fancy text and different sizes, in addition to being on various colored backgrounds. This makes it very hard to read. One of the superior abilities of Kindle is to be able to enlarge the texts. Do not expect to do this with the Kindle version.
February 18, 2022
interesting, and good reference
February 10, 2025
Beautifully illustrated. Includes a wide range of saints, not focused on only Catholic ones.
November 12, 2024
A gloriously illustrated picture book of saints, both those recognized by the churches and those who are considered secular saints.
It felt marvelously hopeful and renewing to read the stories of these exceptional people.
It felt marvelously hopeful and renewing to read the stories of these exceptional people.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews