The Saint and the Chopped-Up Baby: The Cult of Vincent Ferrer in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
"The Saint and the Chopped-Up Babyis one of the most original books in the field of religious history that I have read in some time. It will serve as a new model for how historians might study a saint. Laura Ackerman Smoller takes all the sources—the saint of the canonization inquest, the saint of hagiography, and the saint of the fresco, altarpiece, and statue—and integrates them in a way that I cannot recall anyone ever having done before. She provides a superb reading of each individual component and a truly bravura reading of the inquest records. Smoller's fine-grained analysis of the continuous evolution of the cult of Saint Vincent is especially noteworthy. This is interdisciplinary history at its finest."—Philip Daileader, The College of William & Mary, author ofTrue Citizens: Violence, Memory, and Identity in the Medieval Community of Perpignan, 1162–1397"The Saint and the Chopped-Up Babycovers the story of Vincent Ferrer and his cult in such a masterful fashion that it will undoubtedly be the standard work in its field for a long time to come. Laura Ackerman Smoller's thoroughness is remarkable. She has plumbed every depthof the story and managed to turn it into an entertaining and relevant tale—a noteworthy achievement."—Robin Vose, St. Thomas University, author ofDominicans, Muslims and Jews in the Medieval Crown of Aragon