Entertaining, informative, I love a book that's both funny and educational. I'm not Catholic but I recently moved to a very Catholic area, so this gave me a lot of context for some of the stuff I was seeing and hearing!

Kate Sidley's How to Be a Saint was absolutely wonderful to read. As someone who was raised Catholic, but has gotten away from religion in recent years, it was the perfect blend of informative and humorous. I liked the little quizzes and activities that were scattered throughout the book. Saints have always fascinated me, so I felt that I was bit of the perfect target audience for this book. I read it over the course of two days and it legitimately made me laugh out loud, which is rare for a book. I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in saints or religion, but doesn't take it all too seriously.

Kate Sidley is an Emmy-nominated comedy writer, a young mother, and a sassy cynic who was raised Catholic. She writes for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, who wrote the foreword to her book, declaring “How to Be a Saint” hilarious. I love large doses of history served with humor. Of course I had to read it.

Thousands if not millions of readers will probably agree with Colbert that this book is amusing and delightful. Not me. Sidley doesn’t know when to let up as the sassy provocateur who yanks the curtain back to expose the wizard. I find her attempts at humor annoying, repetitive, and juvenile. Still, I sped through the lame jokes and focused on the good parts. Sidley does offer a lot of “good” stuff.

The bureaucracy, the exorbitant cost, and the years of effort it takes for the Church to declare someone a saint is not news. It’s ridiculous and embarrassing, and yet, countless Catholics cherish a devotion to the saints. Here’s where this book really missed the boat. We get some snarky bios on martyrs and saints, some of whom never even existed as real people but were mostly fictions. What we don’t get is the idea of a “communion of saints,” the whole community of faithful followers of Christ, living and dead, past, present, and future, beyond time and space. It’s my favorite aspect of the Apostle’s Creed. Yes, I'm sadly aware: the community of saints living on in heaven, yet accessible to us if we call upon them, may be nothing more than an exercise in positive thinking and wishful manifesting. Millions of Catholics know and love the saints, and call upon them, and just to BELIEVE that we are heard (and will be helped) seems effective, a surprising number of times. I’m not pushing devotion to saints here, but I am saying what a disappointment it is that this book so completely overlooks the reason we honor saints at all.

Sidley does manage to surprise us with things most readers wouldn’t know. Like, Limbo was abolished in 2007? I had to go online to see if she got that right. Kinda, sorta: The Church “abolished Limbo” in 2007 with a document called “The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized,” published with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI. It did not totally abandon Limbo, as that Pope had said it should do. Catholics have never been “required” to believe in the theology of Limbo. This led me to a search on purgatory. Catholic Answers dot com tells us, “The teaching on purgatory is an article of faith that Catholics must believe. It is a truth that can never change.” This in turn led me to an old book I revisit from time to time, “The Christian Agnostic” by Leslie D. Weatherhead (1893-1976). He writes:

“This book would say to the modern layman, ‘Don’t exclude yourself from the fellowship of Christ’s followers because of mental difficulties. If you love Christ and are seeking to follow him, take an attitude of Christian agnosticism to intellectual problems at least for the present. Read this book to see if the essentials of the Christian religion are clarified for you and only accept those things which gradually seem to you to be true. Leave the rest in a mental box labeled, ‘awaiting further light.’ In the meantime, join with us in trying to show and to spread Christ’s spirit, for this, we feel, is the most important thing in the world.’”

Believe what your intellect allows you to believe, and put the rest in a box, “awaiting further light.” That may be as good as my faith ever gets. Let us spread light and love--in the name of Jesus, or just because we feel it is the right thing to do.

Sidley rips back the curtain on sainthood with a tone that is more than just “mildly” irreverent, but instead of tossing the book aside, I read every page, and admired the quantity of research and the great icons and artwork included in this book. The nonstop attempts to be funny almost ruin the entire book for me. Almost. The information, buried deep in bad jokes, is worthwhile information. I would have preferred some actually useful pointers on the path to sainthood, like, how did so many teenage nuns manage to build orphanages, hospitals, and schools, and how did they have the spunk to sass the Pope himself (St. Catherine as a teenager) and Billy the Kid (St. Blandine of the Old West). The answer is that they had CONVICTION. The question for me is how did they get it? Probably not by listening to people like Kate Sidley who point out the inconsistencies, bureaucratic bullsh*t, and evil machinations of the Church. Somehow, the saints believe God is good and God will empower them to do good for others. This is the most important angle to sainthood, in my opinion, and again, I wish Sidley had conveyed this mystical/magical mindset of saints.

In all, you can learn some stuff from this book, and you might find the unrelenting and distracting attempts at humor more amusing than I did. “How to Be a Saint” delivers some fascinating and disconcerting history, and for that, I can endorse the book.

This is a good book if you know about some of the Catholic Church but need a good laugh. I went into reading this not realizing it was going to be funny (and not in an awkward way in an ACTUAL funny way). This would be a good coffee table or side table book for guests or friends to look at. I already have a list of people I want to give this book to.

This is exactly as advertised. A extremely weird and mildly sacrilegious history of the catholic churches biggest names.
I learnt way more from this than I expected and have spoken about this book to a tonne of people now too.
It's funny, sarcastic, accessible and interesting.
If you've ever wondered how people become saints or just how bereaucratic the Catholic church is..this is the book for you.
At times it did feel like it was trying a little too hard to be funny but not so much that I couldn't still enjoy it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book

I read the description and was excited to read this book because it sounded like it would be filled with humor and a bit of an irreverent look at the process of canonization and the lives of some saints. I didn't find this book "mildly sacrilegious" as the title stated, I think it was immensely sacrilegious throughout and downright blasphemous at times. I didn't find the jokes to be very funny; some were mildly amusing and most were juvenile humor, at best. The funniest line in the book was, "Purgatory is a temporary hell, much like flying out of Newark." (I would venture to say that Purgatory likely smells better and is more enjoyable than flying out of Newark.) I gave the book three stars for the historical research and knowledge about saints and Catholicism and am disappointed that I couldn't rate it higher. I received an arc digital book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

How to Be a Saint: An Extremely Weird and Mildly Sacrilegious History of The Catholic Church's Biggest Names by Kate Sidley is an interesting look at the process of becoming a Saint.

Let me first start off with saying that you definitely have to have a sense of humor to read this book.

I am Catholic and misunderstood what this novel was about before starting it, but I can still take things as they are. While I didn’t agree with a lot of things in the way they were presented, it doesn’t mean I couldn’t chuckle or appreciate the intellect of which the author must have to present things with sarcasm, sass, and satire.

4/5 stars

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS (non-fiction) | Sourcebooks for this wonderful physical arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 8/19/25.

"How to Be a Saint" by Kate Sidley was a riot and I loved reading it! So hilarious. But also, I enjoyed learning about some of the basics of Catholicism. This was a really fun read, but also really informative. I'm a Protestant, but my father converted to Catholicism several years ago and I wanted to understand it more. The book kept my attention the whole way through, I loved the tone and the humor was fresh and hilarious. Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Since I’m not catholic, I recognize that I’m not the target audience for this book, but I do recognize good pacing and humor, and this didn’t do it for me. The jokes felt forced, the history and actual religious detail was much more scarce and broad than I was hoping for, and the pop culture references are going to feel quite dated in just a few years. I was excited for this read, but came off just feeling like it could have been so much better.

Thank you Net Galley for this Advance Reader Copy.

A very funny and informative book about obscure Catholic history. When I requested this ARC, I thought it would be 75% humor and 25% learning, but this was pretty well researched and had a lot of solid information portrayed in a humorous manner. Kate Sidley is a great writer, having made her career writing for television. Her voice reminds me of Tina Fey or Mindy Kaling, who also write for TV but their books have sharp observations and random quirkiness. If you are interested in history/anthropology/religion and are okay with not taking it too seriously, you would enjoy this book. There are many pictures of renaissance and earlier art of various Catholic saints, which adds to the narrative and inspires the author to humorous ideas about them. You can't really study European history without studying the history of the Catholic Church.

While the tone is light and silly, and overall does call out all of the ironies and hypocrises in the church, it somehow manages to be respectful if not deferential of the church. It makes the history accessible and funny. Like the subtitle says, it is sacrilegious, but only mildly so.

I am pretty devout myself, but I think God has a good sense of humor.

Thanks to @netgalley and @sourcebooks for the ARC. Book to be published August 19, 2025

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of How to Be a Saint.

First, great cover!

Second, this was funny and informative without being preachy or mean!

Third, to paraphrase the author; getting approved for sainthood is the religious equivalent of an audit.

It's a bureaucratic heck hole and who wants to go through all the nonsense?

I went through a phase when I was young when I was obsessed with saints. I was astonished by their faith, devotion, and godliness at a time of severe and scary religious persecution.

This humorous and eye-opening look at the process of sainthood also include mini bios of real (and not so real) saints, reminding me of my love (and obsession) with saints as a child.

I learned facts about some of the saints I never knew (not with the tame children's illustrated edition I read) and enjoyed the hilarious captions that accompanied the sort of creepy formal portraits of the saints being discussed.

However, I never wanted to be a saint and How to Be a Saint confirms what I've always known.

I'll never be a saint, not with my past. 😆

Kate Sidley is a comedy writer who has written for Stephen Colbert in the past and her sense of humor shines through on every page.

The mild background I have in independently studying religions has been thoroughly bereft of much in the way of Catholicism (sorry, but the whole taking-over-the-world-and-ruling-through-a-system-of-corrupt-fear-mongering-and-suppression-of-higher-education-for-the-poor doesn't really do much for me.) I'm quite honestly glad that I had a chance to read Sidley's book. It was very informative without feeling overwhelmingly preachy. It also showed me the ridiculous layers of bureaucracy in the Catholic church.

Taking the perspective of a sassy friend, Sidley manages to make Sainthood look like a hilarious waste of time, money, and energy. Which it is.

I found the glossary and definitions of terminology incredibly helpful. The stories of the Saints that are included in the book are incredibly interesting and I feel encouraged to look into more of them.

You’ll learn everything from A (All Saint’s Day) to Y (Yahweh, you) about canonization. With self-proclaimed irreverence, Sidley walks the reader through each step and some history around the process. While pointing out some of the nonsense (nepotism—declared a saint because his dad was a pope (celibacy?) and a saint—the author also describes the traditions and practices.. You’ll learn about saints, both real and fictional, but because there are thousands of proclaimed saints, not all are covered here. You’ll get a glimpse into many saints’ lives, their triumphs and tribulations. Written with warmth, the facts are laid out while a little fun is poked. The book is illustrated with many paintings of saints and the captions may be the funniest part of the book.

If you’re very serious about your religion, this book isn’t for you. If you want to learn about the history and traditions while having some fun, you’re in the right place.

This was a lot of fun! Kate Sidley takes a hilarious approach to how someone becomes a Saint. This was filled with great one-liners, tongue-in-cheek humor, and with actual facts mixed in. How to Become a Saint is a quick read that is hard to put down, and even harder to keep yourself. I read several passages out loud to my roommate while we were curled up reading one night in the living room. It's filled with photos with hilarious captions, and amazing footnotes. This one was I'll definitely be adding to my physical library. While the advanced Kindle version had some problems, they were all formatting problems that made the book a little hard to read until I figured out the spacing problem. But, that was my only issue with this book. I cannot wait to see it print, and be able to highlight some of my favorite parts!

I really enjoyed this book. It explains the process of achieving sainthood in a lighthearted manner. The author's manner could offend some purists but the way it is written makes it eminentlly more readable. It would not have held my attention if it was less than what it is. Anyone who attended a Catholic grade school will find it educational and entertaining.

As a Catholic, I went I to this book thinking I would learn something.new, which I definitely did. You need to have a sense of humor when reading this book. It goes through the history of the church and many obscure saints. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who doesn’t have a sense of humor.
Many thanks to the author, Sourcebooks and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Recommended for Catholics with a sense of humor. Or atheists for that matter. A humorous introduction to the many ways a person can become a saint. From martyr to miracle worker. And the sometimes gross Catholic attachment to the corpses of saints.

This was a fascinating concept and enjoyed learning about this type of book. It uses the Catholic history perfectly and was engaged with what was happening. Kate Sidley has a strong writing style and enjoyed the overall concept.

This was very interesting and I found it extremely funny while also very insightfuk. I’m not Catholic so I wasn’t faniliar with much of how sainthood works and how people become saints, but I loved the humorous way that Sidley told because it made me actually want to learn.

This was a super funny book that has a lot of good information within! A history lesson with a side of comedy! This book will have you giggling as well as consuming new information on sainthood!

Catholacism through a new lense that we do not often see! See the weird, the odd, and the dead! You will learn of the lives that have been lead, the quirks, and shockingly true facts!