Saints: A Year in Faith and Art

by Rosa Giorgi

This richly illustrated text portrays more than 375 Catholic saints, arranged by the days of the year on which each beatified figure is honoured. Up to three saints have been chosen for each day of the year, with a brief accompanying description of each.

Genres: Religion, Art, Nonfiction, Catholic, Christian, Reference, History

780 pages, Hardcover

First published November 8, 2005

About the author

Rosa Giorgi is an art historian who specializes in iconography and iconology. Her most recent publications include books on Michelangelo Merisi Da Caravaggio, Diego Velázquez, and El Greco. She is also the author of Saints in Art (2002) and Angels and Demons in Art (2003). In addition to writing, she teaches at the Catholic University and the Brera Picture Gallery in Milan, where she lives.

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐
Much of the info about the saints was too brief and you didn't learn much about them, but still interesting at times. I really enjoyed all the artwork though.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This lovely book which has beautiful paintings and artwork for one saint for each day of the year is without fail, one of my favorite saints books. It has many of my favorite saints but tries, too, to choose some lesser-known saints, as well. My six year old LOVES it because it is a small, gold-embossed hardcover just right for her hands. She will take it with her in the car to just browse through. Without fail, this helps with the tedium of a long trip--Mom, when is Uncle Mike's birthday? Oct. 20, I reply. Let me see, says Anna, that means his saint is St. Cornelius. She tries to show me the picture of St. Peter Baptizing the Centurion Cornelius by Francesco Trevisani. It is a lovely painting, btw...Put this on your list for Christmas and you and the kids will be delighted!

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. I was gifted it by a friend. You read about a saint every day. It is just a small paragraph. I would read multiple pages at a time though. There is also artwork for each saint which was cool to see. I never knew there were so many saints that I could pray to about migraines.

[Emily Nemecio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned some religion stuff I didn't know but not everything stuck. Still a nice way to keep track of the days and have awareness of a saint for the day that sometimes made it better

[Karenbike Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I was a girl, I've been interested in the history of saints of the Catholic Church and especially martyrs. I found this book years ago and read a few pages at a time. There are short histories of each saint with a facing-page depicting the person. There is one, and sometimes two, saints per day. The art is astonishing. The Church takes the canonization of a candidate very seriously and sometimes it takes over 400 years for this to happen. But anyone who is pulled apart by a bull for his faith is a pretty good candidate to me.

[Joseph R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I happened to see this in the library from a distance and the shiny gold spine with "Saints" in big letters tempted me to check it out. It goes through one (sometimes two) saints a day, giving a short biography, what the saint is patron of, and the meaning of the saints name on the left-hand page. The right-hand page is a work of art depicting the saint. It's really lovely and makes a great brief daily devotional. The book is going on the Amazon wishlist for sure!

[Rebecca Shook]

A sweet little book that I have read each day (or, to be honest, some weeks a few days of catch-up). The art is gorgeous and I appreciated learning little snippets of their lives. BUT! My confirmation saint wasn't in the book at all...which made me realize how many Saints there really are, but also would have been cool to see.

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muito boa selecção de representações artísticas de cada santo do dia do calendário católico, com breve apontamento sobre a vida e o percurso de santidade. Muito bom livro de iconografia católica. Reproduções de boa qualidade gráfica.

[Kelly Korby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative little book. Gorgeous artwork.

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Saint du jour!

[sarah rouan · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful art and an excerpt on john the baptist, my favorite saint

[Annie Mckenna]

This is a lovely book with gorgeous pictures!

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of the descriptions are too short to tell you anything of value. The description of Dec 25 being picked for Christmas because of the pagan festival is a myth not based on scholarly research of the writings of the time, and is misleading.

Good for if you like to see the artistic depictions and as a quick reminder if you already know about said saint.