Here is a quick reference book on some of the saints of the Bible. <i>Saints of the Bible: exploring Scripture with holy men and women</i> by Theresa Doyle-Nelson. (Huntington, Ind. : Our Sunday Visitor. 111 pages. Paperback. ISBN 978-1-59276-317-7. $9.95. March 2009.) The saints covered are mainly from the New Testament. Theresa Doyle-Nelson presents from a page and a half to two pages on a biblical saint. Some of the saints she discusses are: the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Twelve Apostles, St. Paul, St. Stephen, St. Barnabas, the Holy Innocents, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Lazarus and his sister St. Martha, St. Philemon, and several others. She arranges the saints in the order of their feast days, starting with Mary, the Mother of God (January 1) and finishing with the Holy Innocents (December 28).
The general reader will enjoy this book and others can use it as an introduction into the study of the saints of the Bible. Doyle-Nelson has a two page bibliography which includes books and Internet sites. She researched her topic by using many sources like books on the saints, dictionary of saints, and Internet sites. Many of these sources are in her bibliography. The author provides not only the current date of the feast of the saint, but if the feast day has been moved she shows the old date. She also provides what the saint is patron of.
She begins her biography of the saint with a short quote from Scripture on the particular saint and at the end of the biography provides some citations as to where to find more Scripture quotes on the saint. There is also a chart before the bibliography that has the saint’s name, what the name means, date of feast, patronage of, and Scripture reference. This book is highly recommended as an introduction to saints of the Bible.
