Afterlives of the saints

Saints are a prominent feature in my daily life, living as I do in a Catholic country and educated as I was in Catholic schools. They were always fascinating to me, not necessarily because they were examples to be emulated or as a focus for religious devotion, but because of their stories, and their associations to various aspects of life. How does a saint become a patron of anything, anyway, and often of so many disparate things, too? Is a gruesome death a prerequisite to becoming a martyr? Is that why so many other saints attempted to do equally gruesome things to themselves in order to achieve sainthood, once the Roman Empire had collapsed and torturing Christians was no longer a thing (it was never a thing, by the way - at least not to the extent that Catholic catechism makes it out to be)? Dickey's book attempts to answer those questions, and a few others besides, by looking at the stories of a handful of saints, ranging in fame from Teresa of Avila to the more obscure Saint Foy (who I am thoroughly convinced must be the patron saint of trolls - not the mythical variety, but the Internet kind). Definitely a must-read for curious, open-minded Catholics and Christians, as well as history buffs looking for a better understanding of what goes into making a saint.