out the omission of a single line or citation
from the original. To render the work as complete as possible, we have
added the Lives of St. Alphonsus Liguori, and other Saints canonized
since the death of the venerable author, and not included in any former
edition. This edition also contains the complete notes of the author,
which have been shamefully omitted in an edition published by a
Protestant firm of this city.

The present edition is illustrated with fine steel engravings of many of
the Saints, and when bound will form four very handsome volumes, uniform
with the Life of Christ, and the Life of the Blessed Virgin.

THE PUBLISHER

NEW YORK, _Sept._, 1895.

{007}

PREFACE

"THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS" is republished. This work--this inestimable
work, is at length given to the public. Hitherto the circulation of it
was confined to those who could afford to purchase it in TWELVE volumes,
and at a proportionate price. It is now stereotyped, printed in good
character, on fine paper, and published at a price not only below its
value, but below the hopes of the publisher. It is therefore now, and
for the first time, that "THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS" are, properly
speaking, given to the public.

And what is the nature and character of this work, which is thus placed
within the reach of almost every family in Ireland? We presume to say,
that "The Lives of the Saints" is an historical supplement to the Old
and New Testaments; an illustration of all that God has revealed, and of
all the sanctity which his divine grace has produced among the children
of men. It is a history, not so much of men, as of all ages and nations;
of their manners, customs, laws, usages, and creeds. It is a succinct,
but most accurate and satisfactory account of all that the Church of God
has done or suffered in this world from the creation to almost our own
days: an account not extracted from authentic records only, but one
which exhibits at every page the living examples, the speaking proofs,
of whatever it sets forth or asserts. As drawings taken by an artist,
and afterwards carved on plates of steel or copper, present to us views
of a country, or of the productions of the earth and sea, so "The Lives
of the Saints" exhibit to the reader images the most perfect of whatever
the human race, in times past, has yielded to God in return for his
countless mercies.

But "The Lives of the Saints" are not confined to history, though they
embrace wha