Far more than a dry hagiographical account of the lives of saints, this entertaining and authoritative dictionary breathes life into its subjects and is as browsable as it is informative.

First published in 1978, the Oxford Dictionary of Saints offers more than 1,700 fascinating and informative entries covering the lives, cults, and artistic associations of saints from around the world, from the famous to the obscure, the rich to the poor, and the academic to the uneducated. From all walks of life and from all periods of history and from around the world, the wide varieties of personalities and achievements of the canonized are reflected. An updated introduction explains the steps towards becoming a saint, the processes of beatification and canonization.

This revised fifth edition includes appendices containing five maps of pilgrimage sites, a list of saints' patronages and iconographical emblems, and a calendar of principal feasts, as well as a new appendix on pilgrimages.

David Farmer , Formerly Reader in History at Reading University

David Hugh Farmer, formerly Reader in History at Reading University, is the author or editor of nine books. One of these was Magna Vita Sancti Hugonis: The Life of St Hugh of Lincoln by Adam of Eynsham, which he edited with Decima L. Douie for the Oxford Medieval Texts series. Others have been in the related fields of monasticism, Bede and his age, and medieval spirituality.

Review from previous edition

`this delightful array . . .the sort of thing that gives hagiography a good name.' The Times

`This concise dictionary of saints is already a standard reference work in the field.' Reference Reviews

`compulsive reading.' The Tablet

`excellent and readable.' Guardian

`Even those who do not believe in saints . . . will be able to enjoy and to profit from this splendid book.' Economist