A Paradise of Priests

"This study is as revelatory for the details of city politic as it is for an understanding of the liturgy that was proper to local worship practices. The book is generously illustrated with texts and translations, liturgical tables, tabular textual comparisons, and with extensive musical and artistic examples, each of which is examined with a deft interpretive palette and assessed for the import of chronological context." Cynthia J. Cyrus, SPECULUM

"The culmination of more than a decade of careful archival and analytical work about the music and culture of Liège (in modern Belgium). Demonstrates how music, hagiography, and civic identity were intimately intertwined in Liège during the late Middle Ages. A particularly useful volume because of the music transcriptions and translations of chant texts, many of which are not available in the Cantus Index. Balances thorough archival work with analysis of music and text." MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION NOTES

"Because of its broad scope, clear organization, and accessible style, this rich book will be of service not only to musicologists but also to scholars of liturgy, hagiography, church history, and urban history." CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW

"Weaves a compelling narrative centred on the lives of Liège's founder-bishops as celebrated in the hagiography, art, rituals and music made, enacted and re-enacted by the medieval clerical population of Liège. An expert examination of an impressively vast array of sources -- including archival, liturgical, artistic and hagiographic. A must-read for anyone interested in how one might locate the fashioning of a city's image in the extant remains of story, art, music and ritual." EARLY MUSIC

"An impeccably organized and elegantly crafted discussion of the previously under-appreciated liturgical materials of medieval Liège, and an enlightening study of the interrelations between liturgical chants and the civic culture in which they existed and which they sought to uphold. It serves as a model of how a study of localized liturgy should be treated, and as a valuable resource for those interested in the ecclesiastical history of the city (it includes a helpful handlist of chant books from the diocese of Liège, to encourage further attention)." MUSIC & LETTERS

"Saucier's A Paradise of Priests represents a substantial achievement in a number of fields, including medieval and Renaissance musicology, urban history, and church history. The book's readable style will make it accessible to students as well as to scholars and teachers. A seamless and compelling narrative." Susan Boynton, Columbia University

"Saucier's monograph is a vital contribution to the study of music, politics, and identity construction through the celebration of local saints in the Middle Ages. Saucier's study is grounded in detailed readings of the office texts and melodies . . . and is rounded out by a deft application of historical and art-historical research findings . . . . Fluently written." Journal of the American Musicological Society