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Article: Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St Francis.(Review)
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- August 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St Francis. By Valerie Martin. Knopf, 268 pp., $24.00.
NOVELIST VALERIE MARTIN has written a great narrative about Francesco di Pietro Bernadone-- Francis of Assisi, the elusive figure who casts an enormous shadow across the terrain of Christian spirituality. Though she has done significant research (the bibliography is large, and the notes at the end of the text are detailed), she knows that it is impossible to write a factual biography of this man, despite numerous attempts across the centuries. But she tells his story with verve and erudition.
Martin immersed herself in Francis's lore and legend during the three ...