Mary Harvey Doyno, The Lay Saint: Charity and Charismatic Authority in Medieval Italy, 1150–1350. Ithaca, NY, and London: Cornell University Press, 2019, 9 b/w ill.

While lay spirituality and even sanctity in Northern Europe found its common expression in beguines or beguards, in Humilitati or Flagellants during the late Middle Ages, in Italy a different phenomenon emerged since the twelfth century, with lay saints being recognized by the urban communities and even by the Church. Mary Harvey Doyno here presents a detailed discussion of the large number of those saints, whose