The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity, Enlarged Edition

By Peter R.L. Brown

In this groundbreaking work, Peter Brown explores how the worship of saints and their corporeal remains became central to religious life in Western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. During this period, earthly remnants served as a heavenly connection, and their veneration is a fascinating window into the cultural mood of a region in transition.

Brown challenges the long-held “two-tier” idea of religion that separated the religious practices of the sophisticated elites from those of the superstitious masses, instead arguing that the cult of the saints crossed boundaries and played a dynamic part in both the Christian faith and the larger world of late antiquity. He shows how men and women living in harsh and sometimes barbaric times relied upon the holy dead to obtain justice, forgiveness, and power, and how a single sainted hair could inspire great thinkers and great artists.

An essential text by one of the foremost scholars of European history, this expanded edition includes a new preface from Brown, which presents new ideas based on subsequent scholarship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Release date: Nov 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9780226175430

Peter R.L. Brown

Peter Brown (Ph.D. Oxford University) is the Rollins Professor of History at Princeton University. He previously taught at London University and the University of California, Berkeley. He has written on the rise of Christianity and the end of the Roman empire. His works include: Augustine of Hippo (1967); The World of Late Antiquity (1972); The Cult of the Saints (1981); Body and Society (1988), The Rise of Western Christendom (1995 and 2002); Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire (2002). He is presently working on issues of wealth and poverty in the late Roman and early medieval Christian world.

Reviews for The Cult of the Saints

[choochoosnme · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very thought provoking book that adds much to a topic that is understood very little in most modern literature.

[gwendydd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Major milestone work in the field. Brown argues that the cult of saints was not a pagan borrowing, not a triumph of “popular” culture, but actually grew logically out of the intellectual trends of the Late Antique period. He rejects the two-tiered model of "elite" and "popular" religion. The book is short, well-organized, and an easy read.