Hagiography

"Lives of saints" redirects here. For works with this title, see Lives of the Saints (disambiguation).

Page from Vita Sancti Martini by Sulpicius Severus

A hagiography (/ˌhæɡiˈɒɡrəfi/; from Ancient Greek ἅγιος, hagios 'holy' and -γραφία, -graphia 'writing')[1] is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions.[2][3][4] Early Christian hagiographies might consist of a biography or vita (from Latin vita, life, which begins the title of most medieval biographies), a description of the saint's deeds or miracles, an account of the saint's martyrdom (called a passio), or be a combination of these.

Christian hagiographies focus on the lives, and notably the miracles, ascribed to men and women canonized by the Roman Catholic church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Church of the East. Other religious traditions such as Buddhism,[5] Hinduism,[6] Taoism,[7] Islam, Sikhism and Jainism also create and maintain hagiographical texts (such as the Sikh Janamsakhis) concerning saints, gurus and other individuals believed to be imbued with sacred power.

Hagiographic works, especially those of the Middle Ages, can incorporate a record of institutional and local history, and evidence of popular cults, customs, and traditions.[8]

However, when referring to modern, non-ecclesiastical works, the term hagiography is often used today as a pejorative reference to biographies and histories whose authors are perceived to be uncritical or excessively reverential toward their subject.

  1. ^ "hagiography". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ Rico G. Monge (2016). Rico G. Monge, Kerry P. C. San Chirico and Rachel J. Smith (ed.). Hagiography and Religious Truth: Case Studies in the Abrahamic and Dharmic Traditions. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 7–22. ISBN 978-1474235792.
  3. ^ Jeanette Blonigen Clancy (2019). Beyond Parochial Faith: A Catholic Confesses. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 137. ISBN 978-1532672828.
  4. ^ Rapp, Claudia (2012). "Hagiography and the Cult of Saints in the Light of Epigraphy and Acclamations". Byzantine Religious Culture. Brill Academic. pp. 289–311. doi:10.1163/9789004226494_017. ISBN 978-9004226494.
  5. ^ Jonathan Augustine (2012), Buddhist Hagiography in Early Japan, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415646291
  6. ^ David Lorenzen (2006), Who Invented Hinduism?, Yoda Press, ISBN 978-8190227261, pp. 120–121
  7. ^ Robert Ford Campany (2002), To Live as Long as Heaven and Earth: A Translation and Study of Ge Hong's Traditions of Divine Transcendents, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0520230347
  8. ^ Davies, S. (2008). Archive and manuscripts: contents and use: using the sources (3rd ed.). Aberystwyth, UK: Department of Information Studies, Aberystwyth University. p. 5.20. ISBN 978-1906214159