Canadian couple tracks saints at churches, museums worldwide

Published: 2006-09-01

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- St. George is an easy one. He's almost always portrayed as the gallant figure mounted on a white steed driving a lance through the heart of a writhing dragon. And that bearded man preaching to the birds? It must be St. Francis of Assisi, the noted peacemaker and animal lover. But what of the elderly man with two doves perched on an open book? Or how about the pilgrim who points to an open wound on his leg while a dog sits at his feet carrying a loaf of bread in its jaws? Those were some of the questions that came to the minds of Edward and Lorna Mornin as the Canadian couple toured churches and art galleries throughout the world over the last three decades. With few books to explain why these iconic figures in stone, plaster and glass were portrayed as they were, the Mornins decided to research it themselves. The fruit of their three-year effort, "Saints: A Visual Guide," was recently published by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company in Michigan.

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