Annie’s Reviews > The Seeing Stone > Status Update
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"I named the angel Raphael, saint of lovers, and then Gerard, who watches over pregnant women."
This scene takes place in the year 1200. St. Gerard Majella was born in 1720. Kevin Crossley-Holland looked up "patron saint of pregnant women" but didn't check when that saint actually lived. A person in the Middle Ages would have prayed to St. Anne.
— Mar 29, 2026 07:08PM
This scene takes place in the year 1200. St. Gerard Majella was born in 1720. Kevin Crossley-Holland looked up "patron saint of pregnant women" but didn't check when that saint actually lived. A person in the Middle Ages would have prayed to St. Anne.
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Monique
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Mar 30, 2026 05:44AM
That's funny. Would have expected better from Crossley-Holland.
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Like he looked up "patron saint of pregnant women" and wrote down the name but that was the only information he decided he needed. Several pages later Arthur's mom who has breastfed several children says that she prayed to St. Gerard and he healed her sore breasts. So Crossley-Holland considers Catholicism little more than superstition. I read this when I was 5th or 6th grade and didn't really like it. I like medieval historical fiction, but this one is not well done.
Not the kind of mistake a Medievalist should be making!
