An excellent source for information on saints of the Roman Catholic Church and the Ortodox Church up through the Schism. It does not include saints of the Episcopal Church, but does include those popular saints such as Barbara and Christopher removed in the 1968-69 time frame. I use it in writing my monthly column for my parish newsletter.

An entertaining and informative dictionary of saints that not only gives the lives of the saints but also a history of their folklore, veneration and relics. Farmer includes "popular" saints like St. Werner (who was never formally canonized), desanctified saints like Barbara, and a few saints of the Orthodox traditions. Appendices list patron saints and symbols associated with the saints. You will not find every saint in this work, but the ones you do find are described in rich detail. I bought this book for a narrow purpose and soon found myself reading it from cover to cover in bed. The only bothersome thing, for me, is Farmer's Anglophilia: he gives space to many obscure English and Irish saints while ignoring some key figures from other parts of the world, like St. Diego of Alcala (for whom San Diego is named). Nonetheless, it is a useful book for either reference or entertainment.

Balanced, informative, and interesting summary of available information on approximately 1300 saints, with useful system of indexing and cross-referencing.

In summarizing the lives of the saints, some sources seem to want to gloss over the more fantastic, fairy-tale aspects of some stories, while other sources will drift off into a Daily Meditation self-help format. This text takes an even-handed and academic approach, that allows the reader to draw his own conclusions.

As a Californian, it is a little frustrating to deal with the British bias on saints, and find nothing about saints who were chosen for California place names like San Dimas, San Luis Obispo, San Diego (Didacus?), and San Ysidro. But overall this is an excellent source for hagiographic trivia and history.

In his Life of Cuthbert, Bede fills every page with a miracle due to the hands of the saint, whose powers of healing and prophecy are quite marvelous.

Somewhat more credible is Eddius' Life of Wilfrid, also fraught with miracles, but more educational in the secular lives of the saint, his ministries, the relationships between church and state, plus descriptions of three pilgrimmages to Rome, so that Wilfrid might appeal to the Pontiff to restore his monasteries, usurped by the crown.

An interesting look at the dealings at court in medieval England, the superstitions of the age, and a few hints at the powers of the Pope when England was monastic.

This edition is comprised of the venerable Bede's "Life of Cuthbert" and the "Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow; the priest Eddius Stephanus' "Life of Wilfrid;" and also included is the "Voyage of St Brendan" and the "History of Abbot Ceolfrith." These works brim with saintly tails of healings and exorcisms, and of prophecies and portents. These books contain some interesting historical information as well: such as the spread of Christianity on the British Isles during the sixth and seventh centuries. The introduction provides both a comprehensive look at the individuals who wrote these books and a general picture of they age they lived in. These books will no doubt be a fascinating read for anyone interested in the history of Christianity in Britain, or just in good simple hagiography.

St. Bede is mostly known for his history of the Church in England, but his Life of Cuthbert is a wonderful read. The language is simple and eloquent, and the translation is excellent. Medieval logic can seem overly simplistic to the modern mind, but Bede is straightforward and concise. In contrast, Eddius' Life of Wilfred seems downright wily. Perhaps this makes it all the more enjoyable, as we discern the writer's own agenda. Trying to find the personalities behind the facts and misrepresentations makes for one of the most enjoyable medieval texts I've read in a while.

A beautifully illustrated rendition of the lives of the most common Saints. If anything was left out of the history of any particular Saint, the images make up for it. I give it only 4 stars, due to small inaccuracies which should have been worked out with a little more research, and some misleading myths about Catholicism have crept into this work (hopefully by accident), such as the sale of indulgences. A good source of information for anyone wishing to make an introductory trip into the lives of the Saints, and how their example has led others to sanctity.