A stimulating look at the rise of the cult of the saints, weaving it within its social and cultural context. A beautifully written book' (Catholic Herald). This book, besides being scholarly, is immensely readable and profoundly rewarding for anyone interested in Christianity's brave attempt to "join heaven and earth" in a whole that is both familiar and holy' (Church Times).Its style is that of the orator, full of grace and glory, carrying an audience along into a rich and many-coloured world where a seventeenth-century lyric of profane love provides a chapter heading to a discussion of early Christian tombs, and present-day dealings with a fqih in Morocco proves a parallel for appeals to the saints in the late antique world' (New Blackfriars).