The famous medievalist André Vauchez offers a complete study on "Saint Homobonus of Cremona, "father of the poor" and "patron of tailors". Vauchez not only edited and translated all the hagiographic texts dedicated to the saint; he also describes in detail his cult importantance in the modern era and analyzes his iconography. Married and a father, this artisan and cloth merchant from Cremona (ca 1117-1197) was the first non-noble layman whose sanctity was recognized by the Church during the Middle Ages. A result of vast research on Homobonus, this volume sheds light on the economic and social doctrine of the Church at the end of the 12th and 13th centuries, as well as on the concept of holiness then in vigor. It even touches upon some singularly contemporary themes, especially where it poses the crucial question of the compatibility between holiness and money