Saints alive!

By Paul Matthew St. Pierre

SAINTS: A VISUAL GUIDE, by Edward and Lorna Mornin. Novalis, paper $19.95. Orders: tel. 1-877-702-7773, fax 1-877-702-7775, web site www.novalis.ca.

This book is based on the premise that people are probably already familiar with saints from their depictions in stained glass windows and other ecclesiastical artwork, and they may have wondered about who the saints were in their daily lives and who the artists were, or are, who have represented them.

The familiarity of identification, the ability to name, say, this painting as The Annunciation, its subjects as the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Angel Gabriel, and its artist as Fra Angelico, is quite different from the familiarity of interpretation, the ability to read the iconographic and stylistic qualities of the work, to know why Mary and Gabriel are both depicted under arches, why they both wear rose-coloured tunics and have their arms crossed over their chests, Mary left arm over right, Gabriel right over left, and why the garden shown on the left of the canvas depicts Adam and Eve.

This book shows readers how to interpret the iconic symbolism and artistic styles of works depicting the saints. Rather than offering a comprehensive course in religious art history and appreciation, the book is a simple biographical dictionary of the saints that will remind readers that saints can be seen as well as known, and that their depictions are as close as their local churches, cathedrals, schools, monasteries, convents, seminaries, museums, and art galleries.

As their subtitle suggests, the authors, Edward and Lorna Mornin, who are professors emeriti from the University of British Columbia and live in Vancouver, have included photographic reproductions of artworks to accompany each saint’s biography. My only reservation about the small-format book is that these graphics are not larger, which would have made the iconographic and stylistic nuances easier to discern. Still, it must be admitted that colour photos are expensive to reproduce and Novalis is to be commended for allowing so many.

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SAINTS AND ANGELS, by Claire Llewellyn. Kingfisher, cloth USD $8.95. Orders: tel. 617-351-5000, web site www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com.

This book is designed for children ages 8-12, but the emphasis is more on the lives of the saints and angels than on the principles of symbolism and mimesis in religious art. Claire Llewellyn devotes one page to each subject, lists the feast day, notes the saint or angel’s patronage, and includes a colour reproduction of a work of art depicting the subject.

Here the production qualities are very high, notably the rich paper with gilt edges and a full-colour dust jacket, and the publisher, Kingfisher, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin, is to be praised for its generosity in providing for graphics.

Llewellyn has done well, I think, in trying to keep the book interesting for young children. About The Annunciation, for example, she notes simply, "Many artists have painted the scene where Gabriel tells Mary about the birth of Jesus."