Saints and Their Symbols: Recognizing Saints in Art and in Popular Images

Christian saints, in both the East and in the West, have historically been associated with particular accoutrements or "attributes" by which they are identified. Through such associations, these saints come to life in visual imagery and iconography, in statuary, and in the popular imagination. In the course of time, however, such attributes have become dimmed in the minds of many. This book revivifies these saintly attributes and enhances foremost in the minds of its readers the associations built up by tradition. For those unacquainted with the traditional attributes associated with the saints, this book will serve as a useful introduction. For those who have pondered the reason for a particular object's or characteristic's universal connection with a saint's image, this volume will provide, through narrative context, the "why" of the association in the first place and the reasons for its continuity down through the ages. Short biographies anchor the saints in their legendary and historical exploits, almost all of which are accompanied by beautiful photographs illustrating the saints' distinctive attributes. Situated initially through the introduction, the saints' histories that follow are further cross-referenced with an accessible iconographic dictionary and a useful index of the saints' emblems.