The Directory of Saints: A Concise Guide to Patron Saints

An easy and enjoyable read that provides a good grounding In hagiography. The conversational style of the text is well-suited for the topic of saints and makes for an enjoyable and informative read. Very well done and a handy reference for guidance in finding saints for special veneration or simply to satisfy your curiosity.

I've never been especially interested in the lives of Saints per se, or actually never really knew much about them, despite my parochial upbringing. All I knew was that many of them were martyred and had for the most part lived fairly holy lives... and have since become the patron saints of something or other...and I'm using that term losely. We have the patron saint of cooks who was actually grilled to death in a giant waffle iron. Now that's interesting if somewhat morbid reading. There is a patron saint to just about anything you can think of from the mundane to somewhat bizarre, and is a good argument for the saying that truth is stranger that fiction. It also serves as a cross reference to help in locating the patron saint of just about any remedy. Also listed are the patron saints for each day of the year. It's everything you never knew about saints and more...very well written, highly readable and without all the doctrine. It contains just the facts and only the most interesting ones. In closing I would have to say that I was most pleasantly surprised by this very entertaining book and that the author did a good job in presenting the subject matter for the lay reader with that in mind.