Encyclopedia Of Saints

Encyclopedia of Saints (1997)
By Clemens Jöckle | Parkgate Books
ISBN: 9781855855205
Condition: Good (piously handled, not yet beatified)
Offered by: Crappy Old Books

If you’ve ever found yourself thinking, “I really need a single volume that can tell me who’s patron of beekeepers, lost causes, headaches and airport security,” this is your moment.

Encyclopedia of Saints by Clemens Jöckle is exactly what it says on the tin: a chunky, illustrated guide to an entire heavenly roll-call of saints, beati, martyrs, mystics and people who led such improbably virtuous—or dramatically unfortunate—lives that the Church eventually said, “Yes, all right, fair enough.”

What’s inside (besides halos and footnotes)

Open it up and you get:

• Hundreds of entries on saints from every century, from the confidently legendary (dragons, heroic martyrdoms, improbable survival stories) to the soberly documented.

• Short biographies:

  • who they were

  • what they did

  • how they died (often… memorably)

  • and what they’re now patron saint of.

• Feast days, attributes, symbols – extremely useful if you’ve ever stared at a painting thinking, “Why is that monk holding a fish and a millstone?”

• A generous scattering of illustrations – icons, paintings, devotional images, all radiating varying degrees of pious drama.

It’s part reference book, part spiritual phone directory, part “You won’t believe how this one ended” anthology.

This particular copy

• Condition: Good – as in:

  • Clean, solid, and perfectly usable.

  • The binding is intact, pages are all present and readable, and nothing appears to have gone through the Valley of the Shadow of Damp.

• Light, respectful signs of use:

  • Maybe someone once looked up their name saint.

  • Perhaps a past owner spent a quiet evening matching saints to relatives (“Uncle Dave: patronage unclear, but we’ll try St Jude”).

No wild scribbling, no highlighter theology, no pages doing a martyrdom of their own.

The vibe

This is the kind of book that:

• Looks very respectable on a shelf—sturdy hardback, serious title, an immediate upgrade to your “I own reference books” credibility.

• Can be dipped into for five minutes and suddenly it’s half an hour later and you’re three martyrs deep into 4th-century North Africa.

• Makes you realise that “having a bad day at work” pales slightly in comparison to “being thrown to things” or “dying heroically for refusing to deny something crucial.”

It sits somewhere between devotional resource, art-history cheat sheet and extreme-life-stories anthology.

Why you might unexpectedly love this

• You’re religious, vaguely religious, formerly religious, or just saint-curious, and want a reliable, browsable overview without wading through six separate hagiography tomes.

• You like knowing who’s patron saint of what, either for comfort, curiosity, or the sheer joy of knowing that somewhere, someone is officially responsible for lace-makers, sore throats or television.

• You’re an artist, writer, DM, or general story magpie and want names, symbols and dramatic life arcs ready to plunder.

• You simply enjoy reference books that don’t require an internet connection and are blissfully free of pop-up notifications.

Condition vs. Content

• Physically: Good – robust enough for bedside table, coffee table, study desk, or vestry.

• Emotionally: a satisfying blend of:

  • awe

  • sympathy

  • and the occasional “They did what for how long?”

This isn’t a rarefied archive piece to be locked away. It’s a working encyclopedia: ideal for casual lookup, serious study, or random browsing with a cup of tea and a faint sense of perspective.

Ideal for:

• Catholics and other Christians wanting a handy one-volume saint reference.

• History, art and theology nerds who like their facts with a side of drama and symbolism.

• Anyone who’s ever stared at a stained-glass window and thought, “Right, but who is that?”

• People who find it mildly delightful that a book about sanctity and holiness is being cheerfully sold by a place called Crappy Old Books.

Offered by Crappy Old Books, where the subjects may be canonised, the tone is not, and the encyclopedia is in Good condition, ready to sit on your shelf like a small, quiet cloud of organised holiness.

Keep browsing: See more Religion books Other books by Clemens Jockle