Offers, for each day of the year, a brief account of a saint's life and accomplishments and includes information on recently canonized saints

"The idea of saints and sainthood are familiar to all, irrelevant of religious faith. Simon Yarrow looks at the origins, ideas, and definitions of sainthood, sanctity, and saints in the early Church, tracing their development in history and explaining the social roles saints played in the ancient, medieval, and modern worlds. Along the way Yarrow considers the treatment of saints as objects of literary and artistic expression and interpretation, and...

"Far more than a dictionary of saints, this beautifully illustrated book is an informative chronicle that explores the mysterious conditions of sainthood and tells the lives of the saints in a comprehensive and modern approach to this fascinating subject." -- from Amazon.com, 7/24/12.