Laura Ackerman Smoller is Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is the author of History, Prophecy, and the Stars: The Christian Astrology of Pierre d'Ailly, 1350–1420.

[W]onderfully nuanced and deftly argued.... A skilfully layered exploration of not only the politics of sanctity and canonisation but also of late medieval and early modern piety.- Simon Ditchfield (English Historical Review) In this book, Smoller takes the study of Ferrer in a new direction by focusing very little on Ferrer himself, but instead on how others (whether wealthy and powerful lay locals, ordinary town dwellers, or the invested religious) made a saint out of him and crafted his image in such ways as to further their own agendas. She tackles this task head on, demonstrating an enviable ability to work in multiple disciplines and with numerous types of sources in several different media, while communicating her research results through the graceful and lucid prose her readers have come to expect from her work. Simply put, Smoller has produced an entertaining, educational, and highly original piece of scholarship that will serve as a model for religious historians to follow for some time to come.... It is an important, thought-provoking, and entertaining monograph. Indeed, Smoller's enthusiasm for the subject radiates from the text, and she expresses her refreshing brand of humor on many occasions throughout the book.- Brian N. Becker (H-Italy) Laura Ackerman Smoller has been publishing interesting and informative articles about the cult of St. Vincent since the 1990s, and here she utilizes the larger canvas of a book to paint a more detailed and wider-ranging picture of how this Catalan friar was imagined and represented....[T]he prose is always clear and backed by wide research in sometimes arcane and difficult sources. Ending with a personal reminiscence of a visit to the church of Saint Vincent Ferrer on Lexington Avenue in New York City, this book provides a fine case study of a cult, demonstrating both the remarkable longevity of devotion to individual saints and the metamorphoses they underwent to achieve that long, posthumous life.- Robert Bartlett (American Historical Review) The author has done well to let facts, legends, and evidentiary threads open one onto another into nets of quesetions and resources for future Ferrer studies. There is much to learn from this exemplary study of Ferrer's afterlife.(The Catholic Historical Review) Smoller deploys an impressive and exceptionally thorough array of sources, textual and visual, print and manuscript, and her readings are skilled and insightful. Her interpretation of the inquest records is masterful, as she ferrets out the 'small cracks' that hint at the otherwise lost experiences of individuals. Her analysis of the many Ferrers in the hagiographical literature is detailed and engaging. Smoller strikes a judicious balance between a Ferrer whose image was wholly shaped by elites and imposed from the top down and a popular cult that bubbled up from the bottom, finding instead a multiplicity of Ferrers and a cult that evolved and changed over place and time. The extended time frame, spanning the medieval/early modern divide, gives her analysis a depth not found in many similar studies. All of these qualities, coupled with the author's fluid and engaging style, make Smoller's The Saint and the Chopped-Up Baby a standout in religious history and a methodological model for future studies.- A. Katie Harris (The Medieval Review)

• Prologue: From Preacher to Saint1. The Situation2. The Process of Canonization3. Shaping the Narratives of the Saint4. Creating the Offi cial Image of the Saint5. Competing Stories: Whose Vincent Ferrer Is It Anyway?6. The Afterlife of the Chopped-Up Baby: The Sixteenth Century and BeyondEpilogue: Saint Vincent Ferrer in the Spanish Americas

Laura Ackerman Smoller is Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is the author of History, Prophecy, and the Stars: The Christian Astrology of Pierre d'Ailly, 1350–1420.

[W]onderfully nuanced and deftly argued.... A skilfully layered exploration of not only the politics of sanctity and canonisation but also of late medieval and early modern piety.- Simon Ditchfield (English Historical Review) In this book, Smoller takes the study of Ferrer in a new direction by focusing very little on Ferrer himself, but instead on how others (whether wealthy and powerful lay locals, ordinary town dwellers, or the invested religious) made a saint out of him and crafted his image in such ways as to further their own agendas. She tackles this task head on, demonstrating an enviable ability to work in multiple disciplines and with numerous types of sources in several different media, while communicating her research results through the graceful and lucid prose her readers have come to expect from her work. Simply put, Smoller has produced an entertaining, educational, and highly original piece of scholarship that will serve as a model for religious historians to follow for some time to come.... It is an important, thought-provoking, and entertaining monograph. Indeed, Smoller's enthusiasm for the subject radiates from the text, and she expresses her refreshing brand of humor on many occasions throughout the book.- Brian N. Becker (H-Italy) Laura Ackerman Smoller has been publishing interesting and informative articles about the cult of St. Vincent since the 1990s, and here she utilizes the larger canvas of a book to paint a more detailed and wider-ranging picture of how this Catalan friar was imagined and represented....[T]he prose is always clear and backed by wide research in sometimes arcane and difficult sources. Ending with a personal reminiscence of a visit to the church of Saint Vincent Ferrer on Lexington Avenue in New York City, this book provides a fine case study of a cult, demonstrating both the remarkable longevity of devotion to individual saints and the metamorphoses they underwent to achieve that long, posthumous life.- Robert Bartlett (American Historical Review) The author has done well to let facts, legends, and evidentiary threads open one onto another into nets of quesetions and resources for future Ferrer studies. There is much to learn from this exemplary study of Ferrer's afterlife.(The Catholic Historical Review) Smoller deploys an impressive and exceptionally thorough array of sources, textual and visual, print and manuscript, and her readings are skilled and insightful. Her interpretation of the inquest records is masterful, as she ferrets out the 'small cracks' that hint at the otherwise lost experiences of individuals. Her analysis of the many Ferrers in the hagiographical literature is detailed and engaging. Smoller strikes a judicious balance between a Ferrer whose image was wholly shaped by elites and imposed from the top down and a popular cult that bubbled up from the bottom, finding instead a multiplicity of Ferrers and a cult that evolved and changed over place and time. The extended time frame, spanning the medieval/early modern divide, gives her analysis a depth not found in many similar studies. All of these qualities, coupled with the author's fluid and engaging style, make Smoller's The Saint and the Chopped-Up Baby a standout in religious history and a methodological model for future studies.- A. Katie Harris (The Medieval Review)

• Prologue: From Preacher to Saint1. The Situation2. The Process of Canonization3. Shaping the Narratives of the Saint4. Creating the Offi cial Image of the Saint5. Competing Stories: Whose Vincent Ferrer Is It Anyway?6. The Afterlife of the Chopped-Up Baby: The Sixteenth Century and BeyondEpilogue: Saint Vincent Ferrer in the Spanish Americas

Laura Ackerman Smoller is Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is the author of History, Prophecy, and the Stars: The Christian Astrology of Pierre d'Ailly, 1350–1420.

[W]onderfully nuanced and deftly argued.... A skilfully layered exploration of not only the politics of sanctity and canonisation but also of late medieval and early modern piety.- Simon Ditchfield (English Historical Review) In this book, Smoller takes the study of Ferrer in a new direction by focusing very little on Ferrer himself, but instead on how others (whether wealthy and powerful lay locals, ordinary town dwellers, or the invested religious) made a saint out of him and crafted his image in such ways as to further their own agendas. She tackles this task head on, demonstrating an enviable ability to work in multiple disciplines and with numerous types of sources in several different media, while communicating her research results through the graceful and lucid prose her readers have come to expect from her work. Simply put, Smoller has produced an entertaining, educational, and highly original piece of scholarship that will serve as a model for religious historians to follow for some time to come.... It is an important, thought-provoking, and entertaining monograph. Indeed, Smoller's enthusiasm for the subject radiates from the text, and she expresses her refreshing brand of humor on many occasions throughout the book.- Brian N. Becker (H-Italy) Laura Ackerman Smoller has been publishing interesting and informative articles about the cult of St. Vincent since the 1990s, and here she utilizes the larger canvas of a book to paint a more detailed and wider-ranging picture of how this Catalan friar was imagined and represented....[T]he prose is always clear and backed by wide research in sometimes arcane and difficult sources. Ending with a personal reminiscence of a visit to the church of Saint Vincent Ferrer on Lexington Avenue in New York City, this book provides a fine case study of a cult, demonstrating both the remarkable longevity of devotion to individual saints and the metamorphoses they underwent to achieve that long, posthumous life.- Robert Bartlett (American Historical Review) The author has done well to let facts, legends, and evidentiary threads open one onto another into nets of quesetions and resources for future Ferrer studies. There is much to learn from this exemplary study of Ferrer's afterlife.(The Catholic Historical Review) Smoller deploys an impressive and exceptionally thorough array of sources, textual and visual, print and manuscript, and her readings are skilled and insightful. Her interpretation of the inquest records is masterful, as she ferrets out the 'small cracks' that hint at the otherwise lost experiences of individuals. Her analysis of the many Ferrers in the hagiographical literature is detailed and engaging. Smoller strikes a judicious balance between a Ferrer whose image was wholly shaped by elites and imposed from the top down and a popular cult that bubbled up from the bottom, finding instead a multiplicity of Ferrers and a cult that evolved and changed over place and time. The extended time frame, spanning the medieval/early modern divide, gives her analysis a depth not found in many similar studies. All of these qualities, coupled with the author's fluid and engaging style, make Smoller's The Saint and the Chopped-Up Baby a standout in religious history and a methodological model for future studies.- A. Katie Harris (The Medieval Review)

• Prologue: From Preacher to Saint1. The Situation2. The Process of Canonization3. Shaping the Narratives of the Saint4. Creating the Offi cial Image of the Saint5. Competing Stories: Whose Vincent Ferrer Is It Anyway?6. The Afterlife of the Chopped-Up Baby: The Sixteenth Century and BeyondEpilogue: Saint Vincent Ferrer in the Spanish Americas