Landscape with Two Saints

Lisa Bitel uses the history of two unique holy women--Genovefa of Paris (ca. 420-509) and Brigit of Kildare (ca.452-524)--to reveal how ordinary Europeans lived through Christianization at the dawn of the Middle Ages. Most converts did not have a sudden epiphany, Bitel argues. Instead they learned and lived their new religion in continuous conversation with preachers, saints, rulers, and neighbors...