I love stories of the saints. It's hard to imagine having too many books on saints around the house. When I saw this one available for review from The Catholic Company, I quickly requested it.
As the title promises, there are saints for (nearly) everything with chapters for the family, for the spiritual life, for ailments, for professions, for education, for the military, for recreation, for disasters, for animals, for unexpected causes and for the nations of the world.
It's not the kind of book I would sit and read from cover to cover. Instead, I've been flipping through it, reading bits and pieces. Interspersed with the patron saints are short articles giving more information on Catholic practices, background and explanations of changes over time in how saints have been approached.
There were many familiar saints in the book and also some I had never seen before like St. John Kanty (a theology professor in the 1400s) and St. Nicholas of Tolentino, the patron saint of vegetarians. He had given up meat. When he was served some roast chicken, he made the sign of the cross and it changed into roasted vegetables. We don't have any vegetarians here on the Range, but you have to love a saint who blessed what he was served. There are also no fewer than three different saints for test-takers; it's nice to know saints didn't always know the answers.
This book would be wonderful for someone preparing for Confirmation, a great beginning for someone choosing a patron saint.
This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an objective review. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Patron Saints. They are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.
