I am such a slacker. I love the IDEA of reading about saints and their lives and learning more about that aspect of my faith. I must confess that I’m pretty much a slacker when it come to actually doing it. Until I was sent a copy of Saints Preserved: An Encyclopedia of Relics
This is a fabulous book to have in your library. There are thousands of Saints in the Catholic Church, but only a small portion of them make it onto the church calendar and even many people only know a dozen of those! This book takes many of the interesting and obscure saints, many of those you know and tells you all about where their relics (items that belonged to the saint, including bones) are located. He also gives you a little history of the saint, how he/she died, where he lived, what he was known for and when his feast day is. There are also some “questionable” relics, such as the tunic Mary wore when giving birth to the Jesus and other things–I had no idea people claimed to have such things!
I must confess, that I haven’t fully finished Saints Preserved. I am up to about the H’s (they are listed in alphabetical order), and I’m loving it. My only wish is that there was a index in the back of where the relics were so I could use it as a travel guide, too. I’ve been taking it with me everywhere and when I have to sit somewhere for a few minutes with the baby asleep, I will read a few. It’s a great way to learn more about the saints in a small, entertaining & bite-sized pieces without feeling like you are getting behind (like I do with Saint-A-Day type books).
Thank you to the publicist for sending me a copy for review!
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