Abstract
There have been a number of books written on the subject of saints, which are often in the form of hagiography. Instead of providing biographies of saints, Saints: A Very Short Introduction is Simon Yarrow’s attempt to ‘offer a selection of portraits in landscapes, to show how sainthood was historically constructed, contested, and embodied out of the divine calls to holiness visited upon individuals, and through collective responses to the political and social pressures that prevailed upon communities.’
Yarrow traces the history of sainthood since the origin of Christianity, especially in the writings of Paul, all the way through to modern period. He divides his book into nine chapters. After writing the introduction, in the second chapter Yarrow analyses how the invention of sainthood is connected with early Christian martyrdom and asceticism. The next chapter discusses the development of ‘saints’ in the middle ages, including Carolingian reform of the cult of saints, the role of saints in the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern churches, the iconoclast controversy, and how saints gained official status by papal canonization. The following chapter investigates the early modern sainthood, how the Reformation brought a change in the saints’ image and the response of the Counter-Reformation. Then in the next chapter Yarrow address the big question of ‘Why were women so consistently under-represented among those venerated as saints?’ (p. 74), with the discussion of three female saints: Teresa of Ávila, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Mother Teresa. Chapter six discusses one of the most famous saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yarrow explains how Mary is perceived not only in the Roman Catholic tradition, but also in many other contexts, including Protestantism, and the Reconquista. After discussing the history of hagiography, in the next two chapters Yarrow studies how the cult of saints ‘crossed global horizons,’ and the development of sainthood in the modern time (p. 104).
This volume is insightful and fascinating for scholars and lay readers alike, particularly for those who are keen on understanding the history of the Christian saints. It is wide-ranging both in time and geography. At the end of the book, Yarrow provides a list of books for further reading, which is very helpful to explore the topic.