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Corrected Greek expression
'''Hagiography''' is the writing of [[saint]]s' lives. It comes from the Greek words ''αγιο&sigmafάγιος;'' and ''γραφηγραφή'' = "holy writing" or "writing about the holy (ones)."
*''Hagiography'' refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy persons; specifically, the biographies of persons publicly [[Glorification|glorified]] (canonized) by the Church.
The genre of lives of the [[saint]]s first came into being in the [[Roman Empire]] as collections of traditional accounts of Christian [[martyr]]s, called [[martyrologies]]. In the 4th century, there were 3 main types of catalogues of lives of the saints:
*''Menaion'', an annual calendar catalogue (in Greek, μηναίον ''menaios'' means "month") (biographies of the saints to be read at [[sermon]]s)
*''Synaxarion'', or a short version of lives of the saints, arranged by dates
*''Paterikon'' (in Greek, πατήρ ''pater'' means "father"), or biography of the specific saints, chosen by the catalogue 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.
