Hagiography is the study of saints. A hagiography refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy persons, and specifically the biographies of ecclesiastical and secular leaders. Though many hagiographies focus on the lives of men and women canonized by the Christian Church, other religions such as Buddhism and Islam also create and maintain hagiographical texts concerning saints and other individuals believed to be imbued with the sacred. The related term hagiology refers to the study of saints collectively, without focusing on the life of an individual saint. In general, the term Saint refers to someone who is exceptionally virtuous and holy. ... Holiness means the state of being holy, that is, set apart for the worship or service of a god or gods. ... Sir Thomas Malory wrote the most famous fictional biography of the Middle Ages with Le Morte dArthur about the life of King Arthur. ... This article is about the Christian buildings of worship. ... This article concerns secularity, that is, being secular, in various senses. ... This article discusses the process of declaring saints. ... The term Christian Church expresses the idea that organised Christianity (the Christian religion) is seen as an institution. ... Buddhism (Pāli Buddhadhamma or Sanskrit Buddhadharma) is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, who lived in the 5th century BCE. Buddhism spread throughout the ancient Indian sub-continent in the five centuries following his death, and propagated into Central, Southeast, and... Islam (Arabic: ; ( (help· info)), submission (to the will of God) is a monotheistic faith and the worlds second-largest religion. ...

The term "hagiography" has also come to be used as a pejorative reference to the works of contemporary biographers and historians whom critics perceive to be uncritical and even "reverential" in their writing. ¹. Look up pejorative in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Sir Thomas Malory wrote the most famous fictional biography of the Middle Ages with Le Morte dArthur about the life of King Arthur. ... A historian is a person who studies history. ...

Development of hagiography

Hagiography comprised an important literary genre in the early millennia of the Christian church, providing informational history as well as inspirational stories and legends. A hagiographic account of an individual saint can comprise a vita. Literature is literally acquaintance with letters as in the first sense given in the Oxford English Dictionary (from the Latin littera meaning an individual written character (letter)). The term has generally come to identify a collection of texts, which in Western culture are mainly prose, both fiction and non-fiction... A genre is a division of a particular form of art according to criteria particular to that form. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life, teachings, and actions of Jesus of Nazareth, known by Christians as Jesus Christ, as recounted in the New Testament. ... Church in Villach, Austria. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: History For other senses of this word, see history (disambiguation). ... A legend (Latin, legenda, things to be read) is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. ... Vita or VITA can refer to any of a number of things: Vita (Latin for life) can also refer to a brief biography, often that of a saint (i. ...

The genre of lives of the saints first came into being in the Roman Empire as legends about Christian martyrs and were called martyrologies. In the 4th century, there were 3 main types of catalogs of lives of the saints: A genre is a division of a particular form of art according to criteria particular to that form. ... In general, the term Saint refers to someone who is exceptionally virtuous and holy. ... For other senses of this name, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... A legend (Latin, legenda, things to be read) is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. ... A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. ... Historically, a martyr is a person who dies for their convictions or religious faith, such as during the persecution of early Christians in the Roman Empire. ... A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs, or, more exactly, of saints, arranged in the order of their anniversaries. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century was that century which lasted from 301 to 400. ... Look up catalogue in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

• annual calendar catalog, or menaion (in Greek, "menaios" means "month") (biographies of the saints to be read at sermons);
• synaxarion, or a short version of lives of the saints, arranged by dates;
• paterikon (in Greek, "pater" means "father"), or biography of the specific saints, chosen by the catalog compiler.

In Western Europe hagiography was one of the more important areas in the study of history during the Middle Ages. The Golden Legend of Jacob de Voragine compiled a great deal of mediæval hagiographic material, with a strong emphasis on miracle tales. Annual, from the Latin annuum, or year means pertaining to a year or happening every year. ... A calendar is a system for naming periods of time, typically days. ... A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A version is a state of an object or concept that varies from its previous state or condition. ... A common understanding of Western Europe in modern times. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine is a collection of fanciful hagiographies, lives of the saints, that became a late mediæval best seller. ... Jacobus de Voragine (c. ... According to many religions, a miracle, derived from the old Latin word miraculum meaning something wonderful, is a striking interposition of divine intervention by God in the universe by which the operations of the ordinary course of Nature are overruled, suspended, or modified. ...

The Bollandist tradition continues the study, academic assembly, appraisal and publication of materials relating to the lives of Christian saints. (See Acta Sanctorum.) The Bollandists are an association of Jesuit scholars publishing the Acta Sanctorum (the Lives of the Saints). ... ... Acta Sanctorum (Acts of the Saints) is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saints feast day. ...

Hagiography of the medieval period in England

With the introduction of Latin literature into England in the 7th and 8th centuries the genre of the life of the saint grew increasingly popular. It is not surprising that such a genre would become popular in England. When one contrasts it to the popular heroic poem, such as “Beowulf,” one finds that they share certain common features. In “Beowulf,” the titular character battles against Grendel and his mother, while the saint, such as Athanasius’ Anthony (one of the original sources for the hagiographic motif) or the character of Guthlac, battle against figures no less substantial in a spiritual sense. Both genres then, focus on the hero-warrior figure, but with the distinction that the saint is of a spiritual sort. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... Grendel is one of three antagonists (along with Grendels Mother and the dragon) in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf (c. ... Athanasius of Alexandria (also spelled Athanasios) was a Christian bishop of Alexandria in the fourth century. ... Saint Anthony the Great, Father of all Monks Saint Anthony the Great (251 - 356), also known as Saint Anthony of Egypt, Saint Anthony of the Desert, Saint Anthony the Anchorite, and The Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint and the outstanding leader among the Desert Fathers, who were... Guthlác (683-714) of Crowland, Lincolnshire, England is a saint. ...

In Anglo-Saxon and medieval England, Hagiography became a literary genre par excellence for the teaching of a largely illiterate audience. Hagiography provided priests and theologians with the classical handbooks in a form that allowed them the rhetorical tools necessary to defend the truth of their scriptures. The Anglo-Saxons refers collectively to the groups of Germanic tribes who achieved dominance in southern Britain from the mid-5th century, forming the basis for the modern English nation. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ...

Of all the English hagiographers no one was more prolific nor so aware of the importance of the genre as Ælfric the abbot of Eyneshem. His text The Lives of the Saints (MS Cotton Julius E.7) comprises a set of sermons on saint’s days, formerly observed by the English Church. The text is made up of two prefaces, one in Latin and one in Old English, and 39 lives beginning on December 25 with the nativity of Christ and ending with three texts to which no saint’s days are attached. The text spans the entire year and describes the lives of many saints, both English and continental, and hearkens back to some of the earliest saints of the early church. Ælfric, called Grammaticus (the Grammarian) (c. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... This page is about the title. ...

Imitation of the life of Christ then was the benchmark against which Saints were measured, and imitation of the lives of Saints was the benchmark against which the general population measured itself.

Hagiography in Eastern Orthodoxy

In the 10th century, a Byzantine monk Simeon Metaphrastes was the first one to change the genre of lives of the saints into something different, giving it a moralizing and panegyrical character. His catalog of lives of the saints became the standard for all of the Western and Eastern hagiographers, who would create relative biographies and images of the ideal saints by gradually departing from the real facts of their lives. Over the years, the genre of lives of the saints had absorbed a number of narrative plots and poetic images (often, of pre-Christian origin, such as dragon fighting etc.), mediaeval parables, short stories and anecdotes. As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... Byzantine Empire (Greek: ) is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ... A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ... Symeon Metaphrastes was the most renowned of the Byzantine hagiographers. ... A Panegyric is a formal public speech delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally high studied and undiscriminating eulogy. ... The term Western world or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ... The term Eastern can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ... Hagiography is the study of saints. ... Chinese dragon, colour engraving on wood, Chinese school, 19th Century A dragon is a legendary creature, typically depicted as a large and powerful serpent or other reptile, with magical or spiritual qualities. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... An ill digested lesson The Governess. ... An anecdote is a brief tale narrating an interesting or amusing biographical incident. ...

The genre of lives of the saints was brought to Russia by the South Slavs together with writing and also in translations from the Greek language. In the 11th century, the Russians began to compile the original life stories of the first Russian "saints", e.g. Boris and Gleb, Theodosius Pechersky etc. In the 16th century, Metropolitan Macarius expanded the list of the Russian "saints" and supervised the compiling process of their life stories. They would all be compiled in the so called Velikiye chet’yi-minei catalog (Великие Четьи-Минеи, or Grand monthly readings), consisting of 12 volumes in accordance with each month of the year. They were revised and expanded by St Dimitry of Rostov in 1684-1705. The Slavic peoples are the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples currently living in Europe. ... see also Creative Writing Writing may refer to two activities: the inscribing of characters on a medium, with the intention of forming words and other constructs that represent language or record information, and the creation of material to be conveyed through written language. ... Translation is an activity comprising the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language — the source text — and the production, in another language, of a new, equivalent text — the target text, or translation. ... Greek (, IPA — Hellenic) is an Indo-European language with a documented history of 3,500 years. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... A medieval Russian icon of Boris and Gleb Boris and Gleb, Christian names Roman and David, were the first Russian saints. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Volume, also called capacity, is a quantification of how much space an object occupies. ... Saint Demetrius of Rostov was a leading opponent of the Caesaropapist reform of the Russian Orthodox church promoted by Feofan Prokopovich. ...

The genre of lives of the saints was often used as an ecclesiastic and political propaganda. Today, the works in this genre represent a valuable historical source and reflection of different social ideas, world outlook and aesthetic concepts of the past. Politics is the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. ... U.S. propaganda poster, depicting a Nazi stabbing a Bible. ... Aesthetics (or esthetics) (from the Greek word αισθητική) is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty. ... A concept is an abstract, idea, notion, or entity that serves to designate a category or class of entities, events, phenomena or relations between them. ...

Secular usage

The term "hagiography" has come to refer to the works of contemporary biographers and historians that critics perceive to be uncritical and even "reverential". Critics of historian (and John F. Kennedy associate) Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. often call him a "Kennedy hagiographer." When former U.S. President Ronald Reagan died in 2004, many commentaries complained that his reverential treatment in the media, and a tendency to ignore scandals in his administration, constituted hagiography. Sir Thomas Malory wrote the most famous fictional biography of the Middle Ages with Le Morte dArthur about the life of King Arthur. ... A historian is a person who studies history. ... John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to as John F. Kennedy, JFK or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. ... Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ...

See also

• Legenda Aurea
• Jean Bolland
• Bollandist
• Secular saint
• Muslim Saints and Mystics by Farid ad-Din Attar
• Life of Alexander Nevsky
• Reginald of Durham
• Alban Butler
• Fifth Business
• Hippolyte Delehaye

The story of St George and the dragon is one of many stories of the saints preserved in the Golden Legend. ... Jean Bolland (Latin Johannes Bollandus) (August 18th 1596, Tirlemont, Duchy of Brabant - September 12th 1665, Antwerp was a Flemish Jesuit and hagiographer. ... The Bollandists are an association of Jesuit scholars publishing the Acta Sanctorum (the Lives of the Saints). ... Many religions keep lists of departed holy people or saints who are revered. ... Farid ad-Din Attar (farÄ«du-d-dÄ«n aṭṭār ; ca. ... Life of Alexander Nevsky (Житие Александра Невского in Russian, or Zhitiye Aleksandra Nevskogo), a Russian literary monument of the late 13th — early 14th centuries. ... Reginald of Durham (fl. ... Alban Butler (October 24 NS, 1710 - St-Omer, France May 15, 1773), English Roman Catholic priest and hagiographer, was born at Appletree Northamptonshire. ... Book cover Fifth Business is perhaps Robertson Davies best-known novel, and is widely considered his finest. ... Hippolyte Delehaye (Antwerp July 19, 1859 – Brussels April 1, 1941) was a Belgian Jesuit who was ahagiographic scholar and an outstanding member of the Bollandists, who established critical editions of texts relating to the Christian saints and martyrs that were based on applying the critical method of sound archaological and...

External links

• Hagiographer: Vlasios Tsotsonis | The Painter of Angels
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Hagiography

• Hippolyte Delehaye, The Legends of the Saints: An Introduction to Hagiography (1907)

• Societé des Bollandistes

• James Kiefer's Hagiographies