1.
Aleister Crowley
–
Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century, a prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life. Born to a wealthy Plymouth Brethren family in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and he was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a British intelligence agency, in 1898 he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett. Moving to Boleskine House by Loch Ness in Scotland, he went mountaineering in Mexico with Oscar Eckenstein, before studying Hindu and Buddhist practices in India. Announcing the start of the Æon of Horus, The Book declared that its followers should Do what thou wilt, in 1907, he and George Cecil Jones co-founded a Thelemite order, the A∴A∴, through which they propagated the religion. Thelemite groups were established in Britain, Australia, and North America, in 1920 he established the Abbey of Thelema, a religious commune in Cefalù, Sicily where he lived with various followers. His libertine lifestyle led to denunciations in the British press, and he divided the following two decades between France, Germany, and England, and continued to promote Thelema until his death. Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, being a recreational drug experimenter, bisexual and he was denounced in the popular press as the wickedest man in the world and a Satanist. Crowley has remained an influential figure over Western esotericism and the counter-culture. In 2002, a BBC poll ranked him as the seventy-third greatest Briton of all time, Crowley was born as Edward Alexander Crowley at 30 Clarendon Square in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on 12 October 1875. His father, Edward Crowley, was trained as an engineer and his mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, came from a Devonshire-Somerset family and had a strained relationship with her son, she described him as the Beast, a name that he revelled in. The couple had married at Londons Kensington Registry Office in November 1874. Crowleys father was particularly devout, spending his time as a preacher for the sect and reading a chapter from the Bible to his wife. Following the death of their daughter in 1880, in 1881 the Crowleys moved to Redhill. At the age of 8, Crowley was sent to H. T, habershons evangelical Christian boarding school in Hastings, and then to Ebor preparatory school in Cambridge, run by the Reverend Henry dArcy Champney, whom Crowley considered a sadist. In March 1887, when Crowley was 11, his father died of tongue cancer, Crowley described this as a turning point in his life, and he always maintained an admiration of his father, describing him as his hero and his friend. Inheriting a third of his fathers wealth, he began misbehaving at school and was punished by Champney
2.
Plymouth Brethren
–
The Plymouth Brethren are a conservative, low church, nonconformist, Evangelical Christian movement whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland in the late 1820s, originating from Anglicanism. Among other beliefs, the group emphasizes sola scriptura, the belief that the Bible is the authority for church doctrine and practice over. Brethren generally see themselves, not as a denomination, but as a network of like-minded independent churches, the Brethren would generally prefer that their gatherings be referred to as assemblies, rather than churches but, in the interests of simplicity, this article uses both terms interchangeably. An influential figure among the early Plymouth Brethren was John Nelson Darby, the movement refused to take any denominational name to itself, a stance that some still maintain. Brethren assemblies are divided into two branches, the Open Brethren and the Exclusive Brethren, following a schism that took place in 1848. Both of these branches are themselves divided into several smaller streams, with varying degrees of communication. The best-known and oldest distinction between Open and Exclusive assemblies is in the nature of relationships among their local churches, Open Brethren assemblies function as networks of like-minded independent local churches. Exclusive Brethren are generally connexional and so feel under obligation to recognise, disciplinary action normally involves denying the individual participation in the breaking of bread or Lords Table. Generally, this is a weekly, Sunday morning, hour-long service of prayer, singing, teaching, exclusion from it is a major issue. Discipline may also involve formal social ostracism or shunning to varying degrees, a numerically small movement known as the Needed Truth Brethren emerged from the Open Brethren around 1892, partly in an attempt to address the problem of making discipline more effective. Being accused of irregular or illegal financial dealings may also result in being put under discipline, in Exclusive meetings, a member under discipline in one assembly would not be accepted in another assembly, as the Assembly generally respects the decisions made by the other Assembly. Exclusive assemblies have developed into a number of different branches, when there is not universal agreement among the assemblies in a specific case of discipline, a particular act of discipline may not be recognised by all assemblies. Exclusive assemblies are also much more adherent to the shunning of the party, using as guidance instructions given in Leviticus 14. In extreme cases, members may be asked to shun or divorce members of their immediate families, another less clear difference between assemblies lies in their approaches to collaborating with other Christians. Many Open Brethren will hold Gospel meetings, youth events, or other activities in partnership with non-Brethren Evangelical Christian churches, more conservative Open Brethren—and perhaps the majority of Exclusive Brethren—tend not to support activities outside their own meetings. This group practices extreme separation and other Brethren groups generally accuse it of being a cult, most other Exclusive groups prefer not to be known by any name and are only given such designations by non-members. There are some movements with strong Brethren connections that are easy to classify. The ecclesiology, however, has more in common with that of the Exclusive Brethren, the term Exclusive is most commonly used in the media to describe one separatist group known by other groups as Taylor-Hales Brethren, who now call themselves the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church
3.
Book of Revelation
–
Its title is derived from the first word of the text, written in Koine Greek, apokalypsis, meaning unveiling or revelation. The Book of Revelation is the apocalyptic document in the New Testament canon. The author names himself in the text as John, but his identity remains a point of academic debate. Modern scholarship generally takes a different view, and many consider that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet, Some modern scholars characterise Revelations author as a putative figure whom they call John of Patmos. The bulk of traditional sources date the book to the reign of the emperor Domitian, the book spans three literary genres, the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic. It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean and he then describes a series of prophetic visions, including figures such as the Whore of Babylon and the Beast, culminating in the Second Coming of Jesus. The title is taken from the first word of the book in Koine Greek, ἀποκάλυψις apokalypsis, the author names himself as John, but it is currently considered unlikely that the author of Revelation was also the author of the Gospel of John. All that is known is that this John was a Jewish Christian prophet, probably belonging to a group of such prophets and his precise identity remains unknown, and modern scholarship commonly refers to him as John of Patmos. 70 AD is the date of writing according to Martha Himmelfarb in the recently published Blackwell series. Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy with an epistolary introduction addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, Apocalypse means the revealing of divine mysteries, John is to write down what is revealed and send it to the seven churches. The entire book constitutes the letter—the letters to the seven churches are introductions to the rest of the book. While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author himself as a Christian prophet, Revelation uses the word in various forms twenty-one times. The predominant view is that Revelation alludes to the Old Testament although it is difficult among scholars to agree on the number of allusions or the allusions themselves. Revelation rarely quotes directly from the Old Testament, almost every verse alludes to or echoes older scriptures. Over half of the stem from Daniel, Ezekiel, Psalms. He very frequently combines multiple references, and again the style makes it impossible to be certain to what extent he did so consciously. Revelation was the last book accepted into the Christian biblical canon and it was considered tainted because the heretical sect of the Montanists relied on it and doubts were raised over its Jewishness and authorship. Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, disciple of Origen wrote that the Book of Revelation could have been written by Cerinthus although he himself did not adopt the view that Cerinthus was the writer and he regarded the Apocalypse as the work of an inspired man but not of an Apostle
4.
Kenneth Anger
–
Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost forty works since 1937 and his films variously merge surrealism with homoeroticism and the occult, and have been described as containing elements of erotica, documentary, psychodrama, and spectacle. He has also focused upon occult themes in many of his films, being fascinated by the English poet and mystic Aleister Crowley, and is an adherent of Thelema, the religion Crowley founded. He began making films when he was ten years old, although his first film to gain any recognition. The controversial nature of the led to him being put on trial on obscenity charges. A friendship and working relationship began subsequently with pioneering sexologist Alfred Kinsey, moving to Europe, Anger produced a number of other shorts inspired by the artistic avant-garde scene on the continent, such as Rabbits Moon and Eaux dArtifice. The latter would become infamous for its many dubious and sensationalist claims, many of which were later disproven, following his failure to produce a sequel to Lucifer Rising, Anger retired from filmmaking in the early 1980s, instead publishing the book Hollywood Babylon II. At the dawn of the 21st century he once more returned to filmmaking, producing shorts for various film festivals, Anger was born in Santa Monica, California, as Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer on February 3,1927. His father, Wilbur Anglemyer, was of German ancestry, and had been born in Troy, Ohio, while his mother, Lillian Coler. The pair had met at Ohio State College and after marrying had their first child, Jean Anglemyer, in 1918, followed by a second, Robert Bob Anglemyer, in 1921. That year they moved to Santa Monica to be near Lillians mother, Bertha Coler and it was here that Wilbur got a job working as an electrical engineer at Douglas Aircraft, bringing in enough money so that they could live comfortably as a middle-class family. Kenneth, their third and final child, was born in 1927 and his brother Bob later claimed that being the youngest child, Kenneth had been spoilt by his mother and grandmother, and as such had become somewhat bratty. His grandmother, Bertha, was a big influence on the young Kenneth and it was she who first took Kenneth to the cinema, to see a double bill of The Singing Fool and Thunder Over Mexico and also encouraged his artistic interests. She herself later moved into a house in Hollywood with another woman, Miss Diggy and he developed an early interest in film, and enjoyed reading the movie tie-in Big Little books. He would later relate that I was a prodigy who never got smarter. He retrospected his attendance at the Santa Monica Cotillon where child stars were encouraged to mix with non-famous children and through this met Shirley Temple, with whom he danced on one occasion. It was in 1935, he would claim, that he had the chance to appear in a Hollywood film. Set photographs and studio production reports in fact contradict Angers claims, Angers unofficial biographer, Bill Landis, remarked in 1995 that the Changeling Prince was definitely Anger as a child, visually, hes immediately recognizable
5.
Thelema
–
Thelema is a religion based on a philosophical law of the same name, adopted as a central tenet by some religious organizations. The law of Thelema is Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law, Love is the law, love under will. The law of Thelema was developed in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley and he believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a spiritual experience that he and his wife, Rose Edith, had in Egypt in 1904. An adherent of Thelema is a Thelemite, the Thelemic pantheon includes a number of deities, primarily a trio adapted from ancient Egyptian religion, who are the three speakers of The Book of the Law, Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Crowley described these deities as a literary convenience, the religion is founded upon the idea that the 20th century marked the beginning of the Aeon of Horus, in which a new ethical code would be followed, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. This statement indicates that adherents, who are known as Thelemites, should seek out and follow their own path in life. The philosophy also emphasizes the practice of Magick. The word thelema is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun θέλημα will, from the verb θέλω to will, wish, want or purpose. As Crowley developed the religion, he wrote widely on the topic and he also included ideas from occultism, yoga and both Eastern and Western mysticism, especially the Qabalah. The word θέλημα is rare in classical Greek, where it signifies the appetitive will, desire, sometimes even sexual, but it is frequent in the Septuagint. Early Christian writings occasionally use the word to refer to the human will, and even the will of Gods opponent, the Devil, one well-known example is in the Lords Prayer, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ”It is used later in the gospel, He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it. In his 5th-century Sermon on 1 John 4, 4–12, Augustine of Hippo gave an instruction, Love. In the Renaissance, a character named Thelemia represents will or desire in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of the Dominican monk Francesco Colonna, the protagonist Poliphilo has two allegorical guides, Logistica and Thelemia. When forced to choose, he chooses fulfillment of his sexual will over logic, the only rule of this Abbey was fay çe que vouldras. In the mid-18th century, Sir Francis Dashwood inscribed the adage on a doorway of his abbey at Medmenham, where it served as the motto of the Hellfire Club. Rabelaiss Abbey of Thelema has been referred to by later writers Sir Walter Besant and James Rice, in their novel The Monks of Thelema, françois Rabelais was a Franciscan and later a Benedictine monk of the 16th century. Eventually he left the monastery to study medicine, and moved to the French city of Lyon in 1532, there he wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel, a connected series of books
6.
Marjorie Cameron
–
Marjorie Cameron Parsons Kimmel, who professionally used the mononym Cameron, was an American artist, poet, actress, and occultist. A follower of Thelema, the new movement established by the English occultist Aleister Crowley, she was also the wife of rocket pioneer. Born in Belle Plaine, Iowa, Cameron volunteered for services in the United States Navy during the Second World War, after which she settled in Pasadena, California. There she met Parsons, who believed her to be the Elemental woman that he had invoked in the stages of a series of sex magic rituals called the Babalon Working. They entered a relationship and were married in 1946 and their relationship was often strained, although Parsons sparked her involvement in Thelema and occultism. After Parsons death in an explosion at their home in 1952, Cameron came to suspect that her husband had been assassinated, the group soon dissolved, with many of its members concerned by Camerons increasingly apocalyptic predictions. Returning to Los Angeles, Cameron befriended the socialite Samson De Brier, among her friends were the filmmakers Curtis Harrington and Kenneth Anger. Rarely remaining in one place for long, during the 1950s and 1960s she lived for periods in Joshua Tree, San Francisco, in 1955 she gave birth to a daughter, Crystal Eve Kimmel. Although health problems at times prevented her from working, she produced enough art, Camerons recognition as an artist increased after her death, when her paintings made appearances in exhibitions across the U. S. As a result of increased attention on Parsons, Camerons life also gained greater coverage in the early 2000s, Cameron was born in Belle Plaine, Iowa, on April 23,1922. Her father, the railway worker Hill Leslie Cameron, was the child of a Scots-Irish family, while her mother. She was their first child, followed by three siblings, James, Mary, and Robert. They lived on the north side of town, although life was nevertheless hard due to the Great Depression. Relating that one of her friends had committed suicide, she characterized herself as a rebellious child. Nobody would let their kid near me and she enjoyed going to the cinema, and had sexual relationships with various men, falling pregnant, her mother performed an illegal home abortion. In 1940, the Cameron family relocated to Davenport in order for Hill to work at the Rock Islands Arsenal munitions factory, Cameron completed her final year of high school education at Davenport High School, there having romantic relations with both a man and a woman. Leaving school, she worked as a display artist in a department store. Following the entry of the United States into the Second World War, in February 1943 she signed up for the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, prime Minister Winston Churchill in May 1943
7.
Kenneth Grant
–
Kenneth Grant was an English ceremonial magician and prominent advocate of the Thelemite religion. A poet, novelist, and writer, he founded his own Thelemite organisation, born in Ilford, Essex, Grant developed an interest in occultism and Asian religion during his teenage years. Crowley instructed Grant in his practices, initiating him into his own occult order. When Crowley died in 1947, Grant was seen as his heir apparent in Britain, founding the London-based New Isis Lodge in 1954, Grant added to many of Crowleys Thelemite teachings, bringing in extraterrestrial themes and influences from the work of H. P. This was anathema to Germer, who expelled Grant from the O. T. O. in 1955, in 1949, Grant befriended the occult artist Austin Osman Spare, and in ensuing years helped to publicise Spares artwork through a series of publications. During the 1950s he also came to be interested in Hinduism, exploring the teachings of the Hindu guru Ramana Maharshi. He was particularly interested in the Hindu tantra, incorporating ideas from it into the Thelemic practices of sex magic. On Germers death in 1969, Grant proclaimed himself Outer Head of the O. T. O. this title was disputed by the American Grady McMurtry, Grants Order became known as the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis, operating from his Golders Green home. Grants writings and teachings have proved a significant influence over other currents of occultism, including magic, the Temple of Set. They also attracted academic interest within the study of Western esotericism, particularly from Henrik Bogdan, Grant was born on 23 May 1924 in Ilford, Essex, the son of a Welsh clergyman. By his early years, Grant had read widely on the subject of Western esotericism and Asian religions. He had made use of a magical symbol ever since being inspired to do so in a visionary dream he experienced in 1939, he spelled its name variously as Aashik, Oshik. He was never posted abroad, and was ejected from the army aged 20 due to a medical condition. Grant was fascinated by the work of the occultist Aleister Crowley and he also requested that Michael Houghton, proprietor of Central Londons esoteric bookstore Atlantis Bookshop, introduce him to Crowley. Houghton refused, privately remarking that Grant was mentally unstable, persisting, Grant wrote letters to the new address of Crowleys publishers, asking that they pass his letters on to Crowley himself. These resulted in the first meeting between the two, in autumn 1944, at the Bell Inn in Buckinghamshire, after several further meetings and an exchange of letters, Grant agreed to work for Crowley as his secretary and personal assistant. Now living in poverty, Crowley was unable to pay Grant for his services in money. In March 1945, Grant moved into a cottage in the grounds of Netherwood
8.
Hagiography
–
A hagiography /ˌhæɡiˈɒɡrəfi/ is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader. The term hagiography may be used to refer to the biography of a saint or highly developed spiritual being in any of the spiritual traditions. Hagiographic works, especially those of the Middle Ages, can incorporate a record of institutional and local history, and evidence of popular cults, customs, and traditions. Hagiography constituted an important literary genre in the early Christian church, providing some informational history along with the inspirational stories. A hagiographic account of a saint can consist of a biography, a description of the saints deeds and/or miracles. The genre of lives of the saints first came into being in the Roman Empire as legends about Christian martyrs were recorded, the dates of their deaths formed the basis of martyrologies. In Western Europe hagiography was one of the important vehicles for the study of inspirational history during the Middle Ages. The Golden Legend of Jacob de Voragine compiled a great deal of medieval hagiographic material, Lives were often written to promote the cult of local or national states, and in particular to develop pilgrimages to visit relics. The bronze Gniezno Doors of Gniezno Cathedral in Poland are the only Romanesque doors in Europe to feature the life of a saint. The life of Saint Adalbert of Prague, who is buried in the cathedral, is shown in 18 scenes, the Bollandist Society continues the study, academic assembly, appraisal and publication of materials relating to the lives of Christian saints. Many of the important hagiographical texts composed in medieval England were written in the vernacular dialect Anglo-Norman, with the introduction of Latin literature into England in the 7th and 8th centuries the genre of the life of the saint grew increasingly popular. When one contrasts it to the heroic poem, such as Beowulf. Both genres then focus on the figure, but with the distinction that the saint is of a spiritual sort. Imitation of the life of Christ was then the benchmark against which saints were measured, in Anglo-Saxon and medieval England, hagiography became a literary genre par excellence for the teaching of a largely illiterate audience. Hagiography provided priests and theologians with classical handbooks in a form that allowed them the tools necessary to present their faith through the example of the saints lives. Of all the English hagiographers no one was more prolific nor so aware of the importance of the genre as Abbot Ælfric of Eynsham and his work The Lives of the Saints comprises a set of sermons on saints days, formerly observed by the English Church. The text spans the entire year and describes the lives of many saints, there are two known instances where saints lives were adapted into vernacular plays in Britain. These are the Cornish-language works Beunans Meriasek and Beunans Ke, about the lives of Saints Meriasek and Kea, Irish hagiographers wrote primarily in Latin while some of the later saints lives were written in the hagiographers native vernacular Irish
9.
Jack Parsons (rocket engineer)
–
John Whiteside Jack Parsons was an American rocket engineer and rocket propulsion researcher, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Associated with the California Institute of Technology, Parsons was one of the founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. He invented the first rocket engine to use a castable, composite rocket propellant, born in Los Angeles, Parsons was raised by a wealthy family on Orange Grove Avenue in Pasadena. Inspired by science fiction literature, he developed an interest in rocketry in his childhood, in 1939 the GALCIT Group gained funding from the National Academy of Sciences to work on Jet-Assisted Take Off for the U. S. military. Following American entry into World War II, in 1942 they founded Aerojet to develop and sell their JATO technology, after a brief involvement with Marxism in 1939, Parsons converted to Thelema, the English occultist Aleister Crowleys new religious movement. In 1941, alongside his first wife Helen Northrup, Parsons joined the Agape Lodge, at Crowleys bidding, he replaced Wilfred Talbot Smith as its leader in 1942 and ran the Lodge from his mansion on Orange Grove Avenue. Parsons was expelled from JPL and Aerojet in 1944 due to the Lodges infamy and allegedly illicit activities and he and Hubbard continued the procedure with Marjorie Cameron, whom Parsons married in 1946. After Hubbard and Sara defrauded him of his savings, Parsons resigned from the O. T. O. Amid the climate of McCarthyism, he was accused of espionage, in 1952, Parsons died at the age of 37 in a home laboratory explosion that attracted national media attention, the police ruled it an accident, but many associates suspected suicide or assassination. Although academic interest in his career was originally negligible, in subsequent decades historians came to recognize Parsons contributions to rocket engineering. S. He has been the subject of biographies and fictionalized portrayals. Marvel Whiteside Parsons was born on October 2,1914, at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. His parents, Ruth Virginia Whiteside and Marvel H. Parsons, had moved to California from Massachusetts the previous year and their son was his fathers namesake, but was known in the household as Jack. The marriage broke down soon after Jacks birth, when Ruth discovered that his father had numerous visits to a prostitute. Parsons father returned to Massachusetts after being exposed as an adulterer. Parsons father later joined the forces, reaching the rank of major, and married a woman with whom he had a son named Charles. Although she retained her ex-husbands surname, Ruth started calling her son John, Jack was surrounded by domestic servants. Having few friends, he lived a childhood and spent much time reading, he took a particular interest in works of mythology, Arthurian legend
10.
Saint
–
A saint, also historically known as a hallow, is a term used for a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness to God. Depending on the context and denomination, the term also retains its original Christian meaning, as any believer who is in Christ and in whom Christ dwells, whether in Heaven or on Earth. Depending on the religion, saints are recognized either by official ecclesiastical declaration, the English word saint comes from the Latin sanctus. The word translated the Greek ἅγιος, which derives from the verb ἁγιάζω, the word ἅγιος appears 229 times in the Greek New Testament, and its English translation 60 times in the corresponding text of the King James Version of the Bible. In the New Testament, saint did not denote the deceased who had recognized as especially holy or emulable. Many religions also use similar concepts to venerate persons worthy of some honor, the anthropologist Lawrence Babb in an article about Sathya Sai Baba asks the question Who is a saint. These saintly figures, he asserts, are the points of spiritual force-fields. They exert powerful attractive influence on followers but touch the lives of others in transforming ways as well. In the Bible, only one person is called a saint, They envied Moses also in the camp. The apostle Paul declared himself to be less than the least of all saints in Ephesians 3,8, in the Catholic Church, a saint is anyone in Heaven, whether recognized on Earth or not. There are many persons that the Church believes to be in Heaven who have not been formally canonized, sometimes the word saint also denotes living Christians. They remind us that the Church is holy, can never stop being holy and is called to show the holiness of God by living the life of Christ, the Catholic Church teaches that it does not make or create saints, but rather recognizes them. Proofs of heroicity required in the process of beatification will serve to illustrate in detail the general principles exposed above upon proof of their holiness or likeness to God. On 3 January 993, Pope John XV became the first pope to proclaim a person a saint, on the petition of the German ruler, before that time, the popular cults, or venerations, of saints had been local and spontaneous. Pope John XVIII subsequently permitted a cult of five Polish martyrs, walter of Pontoise was the last person in Western Europe to be canonized by an authority other than the Pope, Hugh de Boves, the Archbishop of Rouen, canonized him in 1153. Thenceforth a decree of Pope Alexander III in 1170 reserved the prerogative of canonization to the Pope, one source claims that there are over 10,000 named saints and beatified people from history, the Roman Martyrology and Orthodox sources, but no definitive head count. Alban Butler published Lives of the Saints in 1756, including a total of 1,486 saints, the latest revision of this book, edited by Rev. Herbert Thurston, SJ and British author Donald Attwater, contains the lives of 2,565 saints. Monsignor Robert Sarno, an official of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of the Holy See, expressed that it is impossible to give an exact number of saints
