A hagiography is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, extended by usage to any adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, monk, nun or venerated figure within any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies typically combined a biography, or vita, an account of the subject's deeds or miracles, and an account of the subject's martyrdom, called a passio, and such works focus especially on the miracles ascribed to men and women canonized by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Church of the East traditions. Other religious traditions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, Sikhism and Jainism, maintain comparable hagiographical literatures concerning their own saints, gurus and sacred figures, such as the Sikh Janamsakhis. Hagiographic works, especially those of the Middle Ages, often preserve valuable records of institutional and local history and evidence of popular religious cults and customs, though the term is also used today, pejoratively, for a modern biography or history whose author is judged uncritical or excessively reverential toward its subject.
Facts
Place of OriginThe genre of lives of the saints first came into being in the Roman Empire, as legends about Christian martyrs were recorded. 1 Notable ExampleThe Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine compiled a great deal of medieval hagiographic material, with a strong emphasis on miracle tales. 1 Defining TraitA hagiography is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, extended to any adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. 1 Defining Trait Hagiography
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FAQs
Why is the word hagiography sometimes used as a criticism?
It can imply an uncritical or overly reverential biography.
For modern, non-ecclesiastical works the term 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. The older, neutral sense is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader.
Connections
Features Author
Source Jacobus de Voragine (Wikipedia)
Form Of Genre
Subgenre Of
Source Hagiography (Wikipedia)
Subgenres
Sources
1. Hagiography (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, sentence 1, trailing clause
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.
Christianity, Development section, sentence 3
The genre of lives of the saints first came into being in the Roman Empire as legends about Christian martyrs were recorded.
Christianity, Development section, Western Europe paragraph
The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine compiled a great deal of medieval hagiographic material, with a strong emphasis on miracle tales.
Lead paragraph, defining sentence
A hagiography (; from Ancient Greek ἅγιος (hágios) 'holy' and -γραφία (-graphía) 'writing') is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealised biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions.
Subgenre Of: Biography, Lead paragraph, sentence naming the parent genre
A hagiography (; from Ancient Greek ἅγιος (hágios) 'holy' and -γραφία (-graphía) 'writing') is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealised biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions.
In Group: Saints Lives and Spiritual Biography, Lead section
A hagiography (; from Ancient Greek ἅγιος (hágios) 'holy' and -γραφία (-graphía) 'writing') is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealised biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions.
View the Source Jacobus de Voragine (Wikipedia)
Features Author: Jacobus de Voragine, English Wikipedia article textQuote, Features Author: Jacobus de Voragine, English Wikipedia article text
a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medieval church
Namtar (biography), Wikipedia
Subgenres: Namtar, Lead paragraph, sentence naming the parent genreQuote, Subgenres: Namtar, Lead paragraph, sentence naming the parent genre
A namtar (Tibetan: རྣམ་ཐར་, Wylie: rNam-thar), sometimes spelled namthar, is a spiritual biography or hagiography in Tibetan Buddhism.
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