The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Jacobus de Voragine (Author), William Granger Ryan (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 1995

Depicting the lives of the saints in an array of both factual and fictional stories, The Golden Legend was perhaps the most widely read book, after the Bible, during the late Middle Ages. In his new translation, the first in modern English of the complete text from the Graesse edition, William Granger Ryan captures the immediacy of this rich, image-filled work, and offers an important guide for readers interested in medieval art and literature and in popular religious culture more generally.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Art historians depend on it....Medievalists should know it inside-out.... [F]or the rest of us it remains a treasure-house of European culture, crammed full of the things which everyone, once upon a time, used to know. -- Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph



[The Golden Legend] came to serve as the literary equivalent of wall-paintings and stained glass.... [F]or the translation of the work in its entirety into English we have had to wait 700 years for the energy and learning of a distinguished American academic, William Granger Ryan. -- Gerard Irvine, The Times Literary Supplement



A labor of love, as well as a product of great erudition. The translation is a complete, thoughtful, and judicious one. -- Thomas Head, The Catholic Historical Review



An unequaled source book for the study of the art and literature of the high Middle Ages.... [de Voragine] showed himself to be a narrative artist of the first rank, and in Ryan's fine English version we have a splendid volume that can take its place somewhere between Butler's Lives of the Saints and Aesop's Fables. -- George Sim Johnston, The New Criterion



To the labor of Father Ryan, whose stylish translation now affords us the means [to eye Voragine's purpose and method], we owe an enormous debt. -- Brian Masters, Literary Review



This new translation by William Granger Ryan . . . offers the modern reader a window into popular piety of the High Middle Ages and sharpens the fuzzy recollection most of us have of the stories passed down in the Christian oral tradition of the fantastic feats of ancient and medieval saints. -- America

Product Details

• Paperback: 410 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (March 20, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691001537
• ISBN-13: 978-0691001531
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The secondmost read book in Christendom, January 24, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

The Blessed Jacobus's compilation of the miraculous, "Golden Legend" carries you along as it brings you through the image-filled lives of the saints. Crowded, in a most woundrous fashion, with miracles, long martyrdoms, impossible but believable feats, quotable lines, long explanations of extreme intricacy, intriguing dialogue and a most enjoyable theme, it is enjoyable for those who read page after page and enjoy the long story, ending in triumph. It can also be accessible to those who enjoy anecdotes, except here they are pious. They begin the same way, usually--"A friar minor..." or such. It's hard to stop paging through it

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh when the saints, November 21, 2005

By 

Brian J. Fegely "Pennsylvania Freemason" (Philadelphia PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Although I cannot speak to the accuracy of the translation, I recommend this work of the Middle Ages for anyone with a more-than-passing curiosity about the cult of saints, and the way legends and stories expand even with previous written source material. The apologetics written about the birth-names of each saint are at times whimsical and at others intriguing. The Church calendar is also given some explanation here, sometimes why a saint's day was moved by the ecclesiastical authorities, unfazed that the person's true birthday or martyrdom was no longer commemorated. There are two volumes, of which this is one.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Story about Saints with the 2 Volumes Together!, September 8, 2005

By 

R. M. Villegas (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

The Golden Legend by Blessed Jacobus de Voragine wrote about saints that I heard and never heard while I was growing up with my Catholic Faith. It was interesting to learn saints with names that I never knew of: St. Quentin, St. Mary of Egypt, and St. Praxedes.

The Golden Legend was more than a legend. It was one of the most popular books to be read after the Holy Bible during the Medieval and Renaissance Era.