Portal:Saints/Selected article/November 2007

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.

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.

Hagiography constituted 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 constitute a vita.