The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford Quick Reference)

From the famous to the obscure, this new edition of the immensely popular Oxford Dictionary of Saints provides concise, readable accounts of the lives of 1,250 saints, more than any similar guide. In addition to the biographical sketches, the book also provides information on the cults and artistic associations of particular saints, making it especially comprehensive. The inclusion in the third edition of more saints from Europe, as well as a number of those recently canonized, confirms the dictionary's reputation as the standard one-volume work in English. A book to be dipped into again and again, The Oxford Dicitonary of Saints will intrigue anyone who delights in stories of the marvelous, the uncanny, and the bizarre.

More than 1,300 saints are profiled in this most readable, extensive, and enlightening of references. Curious about the saint you're named after? Attending a feast day for a saint you never heard of? Want an obscure saint to include in your historical novel? Or merely desirous of the kind of feet-up-by-the-fire perusal that only a well-written reference text can provide? David Farmer's compilation of saints includes all English saints; all saints of whom there is or was a notable cult; important saints from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the rest of Europe; and recently canonized saints. Arranged alphabetically, the dictionary starts with Abbo of Fleury, ends with Zosimus of Syracuse, and includes Pelagia of Antioch, Crispina of Tagora, Cunegund the empress, and a wide assortment of other martyrs, popes, spiritual seers, and those, such as Crispin of Viterbo, who were canonized simply for their humble lives and Christian faith. There's also a wonderful appendix of the principal patronages of saints--telling, for example, who's the patron saint of healthy dogs (Hubert) and mad dogs (Sithney), plus an index of the main iconographical emblems of saints, another of places, and a calendar of feast days. --Stephanie Gold