A Brief History of Saints follows the rise of the cult of saints in Christianity from its origin in the age of the martyrs down to the present day.

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• Refers to both well-known saints, such as Joan of Arc, and lesser-known figures like the ‘holy fools’ in the Orthodox tradition
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• Ranges over subjects as diverse as the history of canonization processes, the Reformation critique of the cult of saints, and the role of saints in other religious traditions
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• Discusses the relevance of sainthood in the postmodern era
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• Two appendices describe patron saints and the iconography of saints in art.

• A Brief History of Saints 6
  • Contents 8
  • List of Illustrations 10
  • Introduction 12
  • 1 The Saint: Beginnings 16
    • Beginnings 19
    • The Martyrs 22
    • Literature 24
    • Veneration 27
    • After Constantine 29
  • 2 The Bureaucratization of Sanctity 39
    • Liturgical Memory of the Saints 39
    • The Saintly Legend 42
    • Regularizing Sainthood 47
    • A Test Case: Francis of Assisi 50