Angels: A Visible and Invisible History
PETER STANFORD
(Hodder & Stoughton, 352 PP, £20)
Tablet bookshop price £16 • Tel 020 7799 4064

The words of the “Sanctus” during the celebration of Mass come from the “Song of the Angels” in the Book of Isaiah. They were incorporated into the liturgy of the Mass around AD?500, and also form part of daily Jewish as well as Christian Orthodox liturgies. This means that at the end of the Offertory, when Mass-goers get to their feet to sing “Holy Holy Holy, Lord God of Hosts”, they do so in unison with a billion and a half other people across the globe praying the same 3,000-year-old words – their collective faith uniting them with the choir of angels. It is an astounding thought, and one I had no idea of until I read Peter Stanford’s book.

Angels is chock-full of such fascinating bits of information, as Stanford sniffs out the trail left by our species’ deep, blind, instinctive urge to believe in something beyond this life.