Mr. Charles Brown deals with a most attractive theme in
his little book on The Romance of Dedications (Talbot, 6s.), including foreign as well as English churches in his survey. Many readers will be interested to know, for example, that St. Michael's Day is May 8th as distinct from Michaelmas, and that churches dedicated to the archangel usually stand on hills—twenty-six of them in Lincolnshire. We are reminded that the figure of St. Christopher was often painted on the wall of a church opposite the main entrance because of the belief that whoever looked upon the saint in the morning would have a day free from care. Some of the dedications to saints are puzzling, especially those in the City which the author does not always interpret according to the most recent views. The name of St. Vedast, Bishop of Arras, has been corrupted to Foster in Foster Lane, and in Norwich has become St. Faith's. Mr. Brown does not fail to recall the cases of non-existent saints like Filumena or Peregrinus, and the theory that St. Josaphat, the Eastern disciple of St. Barlaam, may be identified with the Bodesatva or Buddha. His readable book is well illustrated.
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