Winner of the 2013 PROSE Award in European and World History, Association of American Publishers "It is a treat ... to see such erudition amassed this way; it is hard to imagine any aspect of the cult of the saints that Bartlett has left out in this extraordinarily comprehensive text. Yet there is enormous entertainment here as well... [W]ho, and when and where--this enormous and humane reference work gives all that, along with stories that are appalling and ghoulish and mysterious and funny."--Rob Hardy, The (Columbus, OH) Dispatch "[T]here is much to enjoy in the array of human behaviour, sacred and by our standards profane or just downright mad, chronicled in Bartlett's excellent study."--Diarmaid MacCulloch, Guardian "[T]his magisterial work of scholarship."--Richard Holloway, Independent "Devotion to the saints is manifestly still alive and well in the Catholic Church, and Bartlett's impressive compendium will serve to explain the cult's historical origins and evolution."--John Cornwell, Financial Times "Rich in original research, full of illuminating case studies, Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? is a major achievement from a distinguished medieval historian and a gold mine for those interested in religious history."--Helen Fulton, Times Higher Education "Bartlett convincingly explains how the 12th-century papacy sought to control a potentially anarchic process by demanding strict examination of cases, of which only about half were successful... With great thoroughness, Bartlett examines issues such as types of saint, relics, miracles, hagiography and doubt, more as an observer than as judge... Some of Bartlett's most valuable insights relate to the diversity of ways in which saints were revered and what they reveal about visions of the social order."--Constant Mews, Sydney Morning Herald

Robert Bartlett is the Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and a fellow of the British Academy. His books include "The Making of Europe", joint winner of the Wolfson History Prize, and "The Hanged Man: A Story of Miracle, Memory, and Colonialism in the Middle Ages" (Princeton). He has also written and presented documentaries on the Middle Ages for BBC television.

List of Illustrations xv Preface xvii Part I Developments 1 Chapter 1 Origins (100-500) 3 The Martyrs 3 The Religious Revolution of the Fourth Century 7 Translations 10 Rituals of Commemoration and Invocation 13 Confessor Saints 16 The Birth of Hagiography 19 The First Miracle Books 22 Chapter 2 The Early Middle Ages (500-1000) 27 The View from the 590s 29 Gregory the Great 43 The Benedictine Centuries 47 New Christendoms: Eastern and Northern Europe 52 Chapter 3 The High and Later Middle Ages (1000-1500) 57 Papal Canonization 57 Mendicant Saints 65 Lay Female Saints 71 New Devotions 77 Chapter 4 The Protestant Reformation 85 Part II Dynamics 93 Chapter 5 The Nature of Cult 95 Name, Body, Text 95 Patronage and Invocation: The Mutual Relationship 103 Chapter 6 Saints' Days 113 Liturgy 113 The Hierarchy of Feast-days 120 Saints' Days and Local Identity 129 Holy Days and Holidays 133 Chapter 7 Types of Saint 137 Counting Saints 137 Categorizing Saints 150 Saints as Patrons 221 Chapter 8 Relics and Shrines 239 Body Parts 239 Contact Relics 244 The Shrine in the Church 250 Running a Shrine 259 Reliquaries 263 Relic Collections 276 Relics in Movement 282 Relics in Law and War 311 Relics in Dispute 324 Chapter 9 Miracles 333 The Meaning of Miracle 333 Patterns of Miracles 342 Healing Miracles 349 Miracles of Provision 365 Visions, Prophecy, and Rapture 368 Saints in War 378 Saints and Demons 383 Saints and Animals 390 Liberation 398 Punitive Miracles 401 Chapter 10 Pilgrimage 410 Origins and Definitions 410 Pilgrim Garb and Status 417 Motives 421 The Shrines of Medieval Christendom 425 Logistics 433 Pilgrim Guides and Pilgrim Badges 439 Chapter 11 Dedications and Naming 444 Dedication of Churches and Altars 444 Place Names 454 Personal Names 459 Chapter 12 Images of the Saints 471 The Image in Early Christianity 471 Byzantine Iconoclasm 475 Images in the Medieval West 480 Chapter 13 The Literature of Sanctity 504 Types of Hagiography 504 Reasons for Writing 510 The Hagiographers 513 The Life 518 Legendaries 546 Miracle Books 558 Sermons 570 The Literature of Canonization Proceedings 576 Vernacular Hagiography 578 Chapter 14 Doubt and Dissent 587 Early Polemics 587 Western Heretics 591 Sceptics and Scoffers 596 Policing the Saints 602 Chapter 15 Reflections 609 Saints and Gods 609 Saints and Nature 618 Saints and the Dead 621 Tomb-shrines in Judaism and Islam 626 Saints and Ancestors 630 Comparisons and Conclusions 633 Glossary 639 Bibliography of Works Cited 641 Index 735