Landscape with two saints

At a time when Europeans still longed to be Roman and were just learning to be Christian, two holy women--Genovefa of Paris (ca. 420-502) and Brigit of Kildare (ca. 450-524)--began to roam their homelands. One of these saints raised an apostolic church in the imperial city that would become Paris. The other scavenged fragments of that dwindling empire for the foundations of a grand Roman basilica built deep in barbarian territory. Both brought Christianity and romanitas (Roman-ness) to their people. By examining the ruins of their cities and churches, the workings of their cults, and the many generations of their devotees, Lisa Bitel shows how Brigit and Genovefa helped northern Europeans map new religion onto familiar landscapes. Landscape with Two Saints tells the twin stories of these women but also explains how ordinary people lived through religious change at the very beginning of the Middle Ages. --From publisher's description.