Scarcely a parish in Ireland is without one or more dedications to saints, in the form of churches in ruins, holy wells or other ecclesiastical monuments. Professor Pádraig Ó Riain's Dictionary of Irish Saints is intended to serve as a guide to the (mainly documentary) sources of information on the saints named in these dedications, for those who have an interest in them, scholarly or otherwise. The need for a summary biographical dictionary of Irish saints, containing information on such matters as feastdays, localisations, chronology, and genealogies, although stressed over sixty years ago by the eminent Jesuit and Bollandist scholar, Paul Grosjean, has never before been satisfied. Professor Ó Riain has been working in the field of Irish hagiography for upwards of forty years, and the material for the over 1,000 entries in his Dictionary has come from a variety of sources, including Lives of the saints, martyrologies, genealogies of the saints, shorter tracts on the saints (some of them accessible only in manuscripts), annals, annates, collections of folklore, Ordnance Survey letters, and other documents. Running to almost 700 pages, the body of the Dictionary is preceded by a Preface, List of Sources and Introduction, and is followed by comprehensive Indices of Parishes, Other Places (mainly townlands), Alternate (mainly Anglicised) Names, Subjects, and Feastdays. Professor Ó Riain's Dictionary has been described as 'an astonishingly comprehensive, intelligent and well-organized work'; it is unlikely to be superseded for many decades to come.

Alice Curtayne has collected stories that reflect not only the holiness but also the gaiety of the saints -- appealing to readers of all ages -- and she tells them with the poetry and feeling that mark the work of every true Irish storyteller.

This Dictionary is part of the Oxford Reference Collection: using sustainable print-on-demand technology to make the acclaimed backlist of the Oxford Reference programme perennially available in hardback format.A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology is a comprehensive and accessible survey of one of the world's richest mythological traditions. It covers the people, themes, concepts, places, and creatures of Celtic mythology, saga, legend, and folklore from both ancient pagan origins, and moderntraditions.

Throughout the Celtic world, in Britain, Ireland and France, the early Christian saints left a profound legacy to the history and culture of Northern Europe. This is the first ever dictionary of Celtic saints and is fully illustrated with photographs of where each saint lived and worked, ranging from ruined monasteries to holy wells, and from caves to Roman and Celtic forts. The reader is therefore drawn into the beautiful world which these men and women inhabited, while also being able to trace the history and legend surrounding these early British Christians. Easy to use, with an Introduction and maps to pinpoint the sites described in the text, A Dictionary of Celtic Saints will appeal to anyone interested in history, landscape or spirituality. Based on sound scholarship, it will also be helpful to students of civilisation and culture. Elizabeth Rees is a Roman Catholic nun with a Master's degree from Oxford. She is one of Britain's leading authorities on the Celtic saints and is the author of many books on the early Christian world.

In this book St. Patrick testifies to us of his conversion, trials, and tribulations in seeking, surrendering, and suffering for Christ. Even though most of us do not dare attempt to aspire to reach the heights of St. Patrick, it is important to realize that God made each and every person an individual - not to be like another - but rather to be like Christ. He made each person unique and endows each of us with different gifts and graces. This is why we study and admire other followers of Christ but we are not to try to be exactly like another. In growing in virtue - yes. But God has a very specific wills and assignments for each of us. Nevertheless it is helpful to study and reflect on the virtues of others like St. Patrick.

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names of Ireland contains more than 3,800 entries covering the majority of family names that are established and current in Ireland, both in the Republic and in Northern Ireland. It establishes reliable and accurate explanations of historical origins (including etymologies) and provides variant spellings for each name as well as its geographical distribution, and, where relevant, genealogical and bibliographical notes for family names that have more than 100 bearers in the 1911 census of Ireland. Of particular value are the lists of early bearers of family names, extracted from sources ranging from the medieval period to the nineteenth century, providing for the first time, the evidence on which many surname explanations are based, as well as interesting personal names, locations and often occupations of potential family forbears. This unique Dictionary will be of the greatest interest not only to those interested in Irish history, students of the Irish language, genealogists, and geneticists, but also to the general public, both in Ireland and in the Irish diaspora in North America, Australia, and elsewhere.