hagiography

[ hag-ee-og-ruh-fee, hey-jee- ]

/ ˌhæg iˈɒg rə fi, ˌheɪ dʒi- /

the writing and critical study of the lives of the saints; hagiology.

Origin of hagiography

First recorded in 1805–15; hagio- + -graphy

hag·i·o·graph·ic

[hag-ee-uh-graf-ik, hey-jee-] /ˌhæg i əˈgræf ɪk, ˌheɪ dʒi-/, hag·i·o·graph·i·cal, adjective

She wants a “hagiography,” and the conflicts and confusions that ensue provide The Last Word with its comic momentum.

A Novel About a Novelist ‘Like’ Naipaul |Edward Platt |November 6, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
One has to be careful not to descend into a mess of hagiography.

David Foster Wallace, Traditionalist? Considering ‘Both Flesh and Not: Essays’ |David Masciotra |November 2, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
Blogger Jonathan Tobin commemorated the event with a burst of hagiography.

Scooped |Peter Beinart |June 1, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
Called, aptly, Sergio, the film teeters on the brink of hagiography.

The Life and Death of a U.N. Hero |Tunku Varadarajan |May 6, 2010 |DAILY BEAST

The book is a counterpunch to the volumes of Oprah hagiography the publishing business has churned out over the years.

Oprah's Kremlinologist |Rebecca Dana |November 20, 2009 |DAILY BEAST
The second version, though LB calls it miraculum insolitum, is one of the commonplaces of hagiography.

The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran |Anonymous
But the great and absorbing subject of poetry in this age is Hagiography.

Anglo-Saxon Literature |John Earle
To him the problems of archaeology, history, and hagiography are impertinent.

Art |Clive Bell
Space would now fail us to trace the development of hagiography in the Church.

The Contemporary Review, January 1883 |Various
Hagiography was now a lost branch of art, as completely lost as wood carving, and the miniatures of the old missals.

En Route |J.-K. (Joris-Karl) Huysmans

hagiography

/ (ˌhæɡɪˈɒɡrəfɪ) /

the writing of the lives of the saints

biography of the saints

any biography that idealizes or idolizes its subject

hagiographic (ˌhæɡɪəˈɡræfɪk) or hagiographical, adjective