The Encyclopedia of Saints - Softcover

Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0816041342 ISBN 13: 9780816041343

Publisher: Checkmark Books, 2001

Synopsis

Offers a detailed account of the lives of more than four hundred saints, each with a biographical overview, a record of religious journeys, a discussion of personal philosophies and theological influences.

About this title

About the Author:

Rosemary Ellen Guiley is a leading expert on the paranormal, and is the author of more than 45 books and hundreds of articles on a wide range of topics. She conducts original field investigations of haunted and mysterious sites, and researches entity contact experiences and spirit communications. Her work has been featured in documentaries and docu-dramas on the History Channel, the Travel Channel, SyFy, the Discovery Channel, A&E, and Animal Planet, as well as independent productions. She is a frequent guest on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. Guiley is a consulting editor of FATE Magazine and a frequent lecturer across the country. She lives in Connecticut.

From Booklist:

This alphabetical compendium profiles more than 400 saints recognized by either the Catholic or the Orthodox Church. Entries range from a brief paragraph to several pages and provide complete name, alternative names and spellings, biographical information, summation of religious experiences, reports of miracles or apparitions, and, when available, noteworthy dates: beatification, canonization, and feast day. Each saint's area of patronage is also noted. Some longer entries feature further reading citations listing books, journal articles, and Web sites. Occasional black-and-white illustrations--photographs, woodcuts and reproductions--appear throughout.

Twelve appendixes supplement the data. Three list Doctors of the Church, Fathers of the Church, and canonized popes. Others identify patron saints by topic or place, provide a chronological calendar of feast days, or explain the processes of beatification and canonization. Three are devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary: feast days, authenticated apparitions, and unauthenticated apparitions. There is one glossary of general terms and another glossary of heresies. A detailed index completes the work.

Written for the general public, the readable entries establish social and historical context and do not shy away from identifying controversial or unsubstantiated claims. In her introduction, the author tells that she was motivated to produce this work by a personal mystical experience. Despite this, she does not attempt to interpret or proselytize. Instead, she allows the facts to speak for themselves, as she has in her previous Facts On File publications, including Encyclopedia of Angels (1997) and Atlas of the Mysterious in North America (1994).

Readers seeking inspiration through the lives and examples of historical figures have a multitude of titles to choose from. Recent offerings range from Richard P. McBrien's Lives of the Saints: From Mary and Francis of Assisi to John XXIII and Mother Teresa (Harper, 2001) to Heaven Help Us: The Worrier's Guide to the Patron Saints, by Alice La Plante and Clare La Plante (Dell, 1999). Public libraries in need of a basic, accessible resource for the reference collection, or collections that need to update (Guiley includes saints canonized as recently as 2000), will be well served by this volume. RBB
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About this edition

• Publisher: Checkmark Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0816041342
• ISBN 13: 9780816041343
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 419