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Dictionary of Saints
Saints were people whose qualities encompassed great holiness, immutable morality, severe ascetism and humble obedience and were from diverse backgrounds. This guide covers 2000 years and includes full page biographies of significant saints.
243 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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About the author
Alison Jones
4 books42 followersI am passionate about supporting people and books that make a difference.
A veteran of the publishing industry, I worked for 25 years with leading companies such as Chambers, Oxford University Press and Macmillan before I founded Practical Inspiration Publishing in 2014.
I host The Extraordinary Business Book Club (www.extraordinarybusinessbooks.com), a podcast and community for writers and readers of extraordinary business books, and have written and edited several books, including This Book Means Business: Clever ways to plan and write a book that works harder for your business (Practical Inspiration Publishing, 2018) and Exploratory Writing: Everyday magic for life and work (2022).
A veteran of the publishing industry, I worked for 25 years with leading companies such as Chambers, Oxford University Press and Macmillan before I founded Practical Inspiration Publishing in 2014.
I host The Extraordinary Business Book Club (www.extraordinarybusinessbooks.com), a podcast and community for writers and readers of extraordinary business books, and have written and edited several books, including This Book Means Business: Clever ways to plan and write a book that works harder for your business (Practical Inspiration Publishing, 2018) and Exploratory Writing: Everyday magic for life and work (2022).
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September 30, 2024
This was an interesting dictionary -- arranged alphabetically. That makes sense for reference. I think for reading, having the saints chronological with an index would have been better. This telling is basically doubting of legend. Saint's motifs in art and feast days get called out. Most biographies are about one page. Among the ones I was drawn to were my argumentative, doubting namesakes -- all of us named after "The apostle of India" -- which I so often confuse:
* 12th Century Thomas Becket. This Archbishop of Canterbury clashed with Henry II whose sycophants murder the "turbulent priest" to curry favor
* A few hundred years later, Thomas More was on the horns of a similar dilemma as "The King's good servant, but God's first" and was executed by Henry the VIII, but got a famous play out of it.
* Thomas of Hereford so tussled against the hierarchy he was excommunicated at the time of his death.
(Scholarly Thomas Aquinas does not fit the mold.)
* 12th Century Thomas Becket. This Archbishop of Canterbury clashed with Henry II whose sycophants murder the "turbulent priest" to curry favor
* A few hundred years later, Thomas More was on the horns of a similar dilemma as "The King's good servant, but God's first" and was executed by Henry the VIII, but got a famous play out of it.
* Thomas of Hereford so tussled against the hierarchy he was excommunicated at the time of his death.
(Scholarly Thomas Aquinas does not fit the mold.)
Displaying 1 of 1 review