Cult of Saints and Devotion
The veneration and cult of saints and holy figures have been an integral part of Christian beliefs, practices, and literature from Late Antiquity to the present day. In a similar manner, the cult and perception of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, remains central to many denominations and cultures while being rejected by others. The following bibliography, videos, and resources explore the cult of holy figures throughout cultures and time, based on the material covered in the relevant classes.
ANNOTATED RESOURCES
Bibliography:
- In the 2014 Preface to his seminal 1981 book The Cult of Saints and in a 1997 article marking the 25th anniversary of his 1971 essay “The Rise and Function of the Holy Man”, the historian Peter Brown reassesses how far both his own thinking and the field of the cult of Saints in Late Antiquity have evolved since the original editions of his works: Brown, Peter. "Preface to the 2014 Edition," in The Cult of Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity. Chicago University Press, 2014 (1980), xiii-xxxi & Brown, Peter. "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity, 1971-1997," Journal of Early Christian Studies 6, no. 3 (1998): 353-376.
- The prologue of this book, "The Making of a Martyr," introduces the concept of martyrdom and the significance of relics in Christianity through the story of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (1119–1170): Freeman, Charles. Holy Bones, Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe, New Haven, Ct.: Yale University Press, 2011, 1-14.
- The English translation of the passion of the 3rd-century North African martyrs Perpetua and Felicity, a noble woman and her slave: Heffernan, Thomas J. The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2012, 125-135.
- This volume brings together Thomas of Celano’s (1200-1260) three key works on Saint Francis of Assisi (1226-1230), the founder of the Franciscan monastic order: Thomas of Celano, Regis J. Armstrong (ed.), J. A. Wayne Hellmann (ed.), and William J. Short (ed.), The Francis Trilogy of Thomas of Celano: The Life of Saint Frances the Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul the Treatise on the Miracles of Saint Francis. New City Press, 2004.
- This work explores the life of a 13th-century beguine, Elisabeth of Spalbeek, which only attracted significant scholarly attention in the late 19th century, despite being widely preserved and translated early on: Simons, Walter. “Reading a saint’s body: rapture and bodily movement in the vitae of thirteenth-century beguines,” in Framing Medieval Bodies, edited by Sarah Kay and Miri Rubin. Manchester University Press, 1994, 10-23.
- Two introductory chapters on the Virgin Mary,the Mother of Christ, and the development of her veneration during the Middle Ages and beyond, highlighting various aspects of her cult: Leith, Mary Joan Winn. The Virgin Mary. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press 2021, chapters 1 & 6.
- In this book, Jaroslav Pelikan explores how the Virgin Mary has been portrayed and venerated across different religious traditions, historical periods, and artistic means: Pelikan, Jaroslav, Mary through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture. Yale University Press, 1996.
- In Mother of God, Miri Rubin explores how the Virgin Mary, despite her limited presence in the Gospels, became one of the most powerful religious figures: Rubin, Miri. Mother of God. A History of the Virgin Mary. Yale University Press, 2009.
- Four homilies praising the Virgin Mary by the sanctified Cistercian monk Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153): Bernard of Clairvaux, Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary, trans. Marie-Bernard Said. Cistercian, 1993.
Online articles:
- Two brief articles and a short video on the life of the just canonized Carlo Acutis, “the patron saint of the internet”, an Italian teenager who demonstrated how faith and technology intersect before dying from leukemia at age 15: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/blessed-carlo-acutis/ & https://www.fox5ny.com/news/patron-saint-of-internet-is-fast-tracked-to-sainthood
Videos:
- A song from the film “El cielo no puede esperar” (Heaven Cannot Wait) about the life of the Blessed Carlo Acutis: https://www.romereports.com/en/2022/11/15/song-celebrates-blessed-carlo-...
- Video on Carlo Acutis’ canonization 7 September 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBt4yfj0uDA
- “National Geographic takes a deep dive into the "cult" of Mary worship, delving into the world of devotees of the Virgin Mary and how she is experienced in the modern world” (from the IMBD summary of this documentary): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5618118/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl): https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3j099h
Other resources:
- This website offers bite-sized biographies of renowned Orthodox saints from around the world, spanning from Late Antiquity to the modern day, accompanied by their icons or photographs: https://www.livesofthesaintscalendar.com/orthodox-saints
- “Mary, Blessed Mother of Jesus” is an introductory guide offering various materials on the Virgin Mary, including encyclopedias, bibliography, and websites with further resources by the Yale University Library: https://guides.library.yale.edu/Mary/home