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through the air; delivers from dungeon and gallows; takes part in battles, and even in martyrdom is invulnerable; animals, the wildest and the most timid, serve him (e.g. the stories of the bear as a beast of burden; the ring in the fish; the frogs becoming silent, etc.); his birth is glorified by a miracle; a voice, or letters, from Heaven proclaim his identity; bells ring of themselves; the heavenly ones enter into personal intercourse with him (betrothal of Mary); he speaks with the dead and beholds heaven, hell, and purgatory; forces the Devil to release people from compacts; he is victorious over dragons; etc. Of all this the authentic
Christian narratives know nothing.
75:(as compared to a fable, myth, or tale) thus: "The legend, on the other hand, has, of necessity, some historical or topographical connection. It refers imaginary events to some real personage, or it localises romantic stories in some definite spot. Thus one may speak of the legend of Alexander or of Caesar." Hagiography (accounts of the lives of saints) is not intended to be history, but aims at edification, and sometimes incorporates subjective elements along with facts.
91:(literally, that which is for reading) included facts which were historically genuine, as well as narrative which Christians now class as unhistorical legend. The term is a creation of the Middle Ages, and has its source in the reading of the prayers used in religious services. Since the days of the martyrs, the Catholic Church recalled to mind her famous dead in the prayers of the Mass and in the Office, by commemorating the names noted in the
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524:, considered as such, does not affect the historian, who has only to gather the original authorities together and to say: This is what happened, so far as historical science can determine. Hagiographical literature preserves much valuable information not only about religious beliefs and customs but also about daily life, institutions, and events in historical periods for which other evidence is either imprecise or nonexistent.
788:
716:. The leading ideas of the legends were presumably transferred individually, and appeared later in literary form in the most varied combinations. Not till the 6th century may the literary type of martyr be considered as perfected, and we are subsequently able to verify the literary associations of ideas.
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independent religious and hortatory importance. The legend claims to show the auxiliary power of the supernatural, and thus indicate to the people a "saviour" in every need. The worshipper of divinity, the hero-worshipper, is assured of the supernatural protection to which he has established a claim.
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There are only variations of the old concepts of transformation and apparitions, as in the innumerable stories which now circulated of visible incarnation of the Divine Child or of the
Crucified One, or of the monstrance being suspended in the air. But the continuity of the concepts is quite evident
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The development of the legend is the result of the introduction of the subjective element into the realm of fact. Every one understands a story in a different fashion and repeats it in their own way. Heroic figures succeed one another, and the latest inherits all the greatness of their predecessors.
83:
Legends presuppose an historical fact as basis or pretext. This historical fact may be modified by popular imagination. "Both elements maybe combined in very unequal proportions, and according as the preponderance is to be found on the side of fact or on that of fiction, the narrative may be classed
677:
In numerous cases in which
Christian saints became the successors of local deities, and Christian worship supplanted the ancient local worship. This explains the great number of similarities between gods and saints. But how was the transference of legends to Christianity consummated? The fact that
391:
Rosweyde wished merely to correct the old collections; his idea was to treat the martyrologies, beginning with the most ancient, from the philological standpoint. But his scheme was taken up by other
Jesuits, and after his death (1629) was carried out on a large scale. This was with an eye also to
719:
The pre-Christian religious narrative had already worked up old motifs into romances. There arose in
Gnostic circles after the 2nd century the apocryphal accounts of the lives of the Apostles, indicating dogmatic prepossessions. The Christian Church combatted these stories, but the opposition of
665:
Great importance was attached to the reports of miracles in antiquity. The legend makes its appearance wherever people endeavoured to form theological concepts, and in its main features it is everywhere the same. Like the myth (the explanatory fable of nature) and the doctrinal fable, it has its
645:
Manifold as the varieties of legends can seem to be, there are fundamentally not so very many different notions utilized. The legend considers the saint as a kind of lord of the elements, who commands the water, rain, fire, mountain, and rock; he changes, enlarges, or diminishes objects; flies
669:
Hellenism had already recognized this characteristic of the religious fable. Popular illusions found their way from
Hellenism to Christianity, whose struggles in the first three centuries certainly produced an abundance of heroes. The genuine Acts of the martyrs (cf., for example, R. Knopf,
217:
The 12th century brings with the new religious orders the contemplative legends of Mary. The thirteenth sees the development of the cities and the citizens, hand in hand with which goes the popularization of the legend by means of collections compiled for the purposes of sermons,
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officially designates the lesson for the day as lectio, and the
Catholic Church now may recognize the legend rather as a popular story or a fictitious religious tale. Hagiography is to-day the province of the historian, who must test the value of the sources of the reports.
190:(d. 594) was acquainted with the apocryphal lives of the Apostles. At the beginning of the 7th century we already find related in Gaul (in the "Passio Tergeminorum" of Warnahar of Langres), as an incident in the local history of Langres, a story of martyrdom originating in
376:
In the usage of the
Catholic Church, the legend plays the same part to-day as in the Middle Ages, but it was felt that not all the legends were of equal value, and especially that the editions of the lives of the saints were entirely unsatisfactory. It was the
164:
Hagiographic writing is not intended to be history. It is of a religious character and aims at edification. Inspired by devotion to the saints, it is intended to promote that devotion. As early as the fourth century, Christian writers augmented
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in the case of the legends of Mary. If in one legend of Mary, the
Blessed Virgin put a ring on the hand of her betrothed under quite characteristic circumstances, that is nothing else than the Roman local legend of the betrothal of
649:
But whence then does this world of fantastic concepts arise? All these stories are anticipated by the Greek chroniclers, writers of myths, collectors of strange tales, neo-Platonists, and neo-Pythagoreans. Examples are in the
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Another example is characteristic tale of the impostor, who concealed the money he owed in a hollow stick, gave this stick to the creditor to hold, and then swore that he had given back the money; this tale is found in
269:
authored various hagiographical texts, mostly mystical biographies on holy women, all linked to the territory of modern
Belgium. In this century also arise the legends of Mary and, in connection with the new
305:('The Lives of Saints') became the dominant legendary in German, 'unparalleled in its overall popularity in the whole of Europe ... Hardly a work of German literature was read by such a wide audience'.
317:
received the legend in this form. On account of the importance which the saints possessed even among Protestants, the legends have remained in use. The edition of the "Vitæ Patrum", which
957:
Legenda aurea: Sept siècles de diffusion. Actes du colloque international sur la 'Legenda aurea': texte latin et branches vernaculaires à l'Université du Québec à Montréal 11-12 mai 1983
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also uses the same ideas, with variations, proves that the guiding thoughts of men during the period of the first spread of Christianity ran in general on parallel lines. For example,
356:
But the legends of the saints shortly disappeared from Protestantism. It is only in the 19th century, that they again find entrance into official Protestantism in connexion with the
197:
The cults of saints venerated in Rome spread throughout Europe, partly by the report of pilgrims, and partly through the adoption of service books reflecting the Roman liturgy.
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The stories of the saints were supplemented and embellished according to popular theological conceptions and inclinations, and the legend became to a large extent fiction. The
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690:(Dialogues, IV, xxxvi) relate of a man, who died by an error of the angel of death and was again restored to life, the same story which is already given by
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who, at the beginning of the 17th century, undertook to remedy matters by referring to the most ancient texts, and by pointing out how the tales developed.
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or 'Golden Legend', which contained a large number of saints' lives, organised according to the liturgical year. The genre fell into decline following the
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is comprised under what is known as "legend". Thus, historically considered, legend is the received story of the saints. A "legendary", in
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52:, meaning 'things to be read'. The first legendaries were manuscripts written in the Middle Ages, including collections such as the
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341:, rejecting merely some obvious fantasies and aberrations, such as, for example, were to be seen in the "Vita s. Barbaræ", the "
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205:(d. 709) indicate a wide knowledge of this foreign literature. The legends of the "saviour" make their appearance in the
674:, "Acta Martyrum sincera", Paris, 1689, no longer sufficient for scientific research) have in them no popular miracles.
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became a matter of precept, the reading matter in the office for the day became in a precise sense
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in 496 is well-known—was unable to prevent the narratives from becoming unhistorical as to facts.
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sectarian opponents, and in defense of the continuity of Catholic teaching and Catholic life. The
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Angels of Light? Sanctity and the Discernment of Spirits in the Early Modern Period
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of the Talmud (Nedarim, 25a), and in the Christian legends of the 13th century in
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670:"Ausgewählte Märtyreracten", Tübingen, 1901; older less scholarly edition in
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959:(Montréal: Éditions Bellarmin, 1986), p. 229, cited by Marianne E. Kalinke,
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After the 13th century, the word legenda was regarded as the equivalent of
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Hägg, Tomas. "The Life of St Antony between Biography and Hagiography",
562: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
440: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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and making mention of incidents in their lives and martyrdom. When the
274:(1264), a strong interest in tales of miracles relating to the Host.
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134:. The pre-eminent example of the form is the mid-thirteenth-century
1033: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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The Book of ReykjahĂłlar: The Last of the Great Medieval Legendaries
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852:, (Sian Echard et al., eds.), John Wiley & Sons, 2017, p. 1793
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
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became foundational for investigation in hagiography and legend.
243:
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De Smedt, Charles. "The Bollandists". The Catholic Encyclopedia
900:, (E. Gordon Whatley et al. eds.) University of Rochester, 2004
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118:
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Machielsen, Jan. "Heretical Saints and Textual Discernment",
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Werner Williams-Krapp, 'German and Dutch Translations of the
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The most important medieval legend collection was the Latin
780:
Delahaye, Hippolyte. "Chapter 1: Preliminary Definitions",
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is a continuation of the genre of secular Greek biography.
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The Legends of the Saints: An Introduction to Hagiography
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Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Hagiography"
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and the "Deutsche Kaiserchronik" of the 12th century.
169:' histories with hagiographic and legendary material.
977:, (Clare Copeland, Jan Machielsen, eds.), Brill, 2012
368:(d. 1899 at Berlin) to revive the popular calendars.
1067:, Legends of the Saints (London and New York, 1908);
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999:. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1907].
963:(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996), p. 4.
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Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography
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876:. Vol. I, Farnham; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2011
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850:Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain
917:. Cologne: J.M. Heberle / H. Lempertz and co.
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914:Cæsarii Heisterbacensis Dialogus Miraculorum
686:(De cura pro mortuis gerenda, xii) and also
898:Saints' Lives in Middle English Collections
634:Then arises as the next task, to indicate;
132:biographies of saints or other holy figures
122:(suffering), and, in the 15th century, the
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18:Legendary material in Christian hagiography
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848:Birenbaum, Miaja. "Titus and Vaspasian",
622:Learn how and when to remove this message
500:Learn how and when to remove this message
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299:. Around 1400, a German legendary called
209:7th century up to the middle of the 8th.
27:Collection of biographies of holy figures
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157:was based on an earlier lost passion of
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46:. The word derives from the Latin word
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1049:. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
942:. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
824:. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
762:participating institution membership
560:adding citations to reliable sources
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438:adding citations to reliable sources
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226:, or merely to give entertainment.
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1039:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "
708:(at Rome in Cæsar's time), in the
345:" of the 13th century, or in the "
155:The Passion of Sergius and Bacchus
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812:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913).
309:Early modern Protestant reception
250:wrote about the holy life of the
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242:1219–1223), a collection of 746
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425:needs additional citations for
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815:"Legends of the Saints"
784:(V. M. Crawford, trans.) 1907
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239:
1060:Les légendes hagiographiques
571:"Legendary" hagiography
449:"Legendary" hagiography
183:Early medieval embellishment
7:
834:Pio Franchi de' Cavalieri,
329:'s orders, closely follows
103:(that which must be read).
10:
1123:
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84:as history or as legend."
749:Oxford English Dictionary
54:South English legendaries
911:Strange, Joseph (1851).
720:centuries—the Decree of
347:Vita s. Simeonis Stylitæ
171:Athanasius of Alexandria
159:Juventinus and Maximinus
1013:Encyclopædia Britannica
754:Oxford University Press
641:the sources of legends.
272:feast of Corpus Christi
228:Cæsarius of Heisterbach
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1065:Virginia Mary Crawford
1063:(Brussels, 1905), tr.
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838:, Volume I (1893–1900)
662:in his "Bibliotheca".
406:Contemporary attitudes
364:, and the attempts of
315:Protestant Reformation
230:compiled of a book of
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1102:Christian hagiography
1046:Catholic Encyclopedia
1041:Legends of the Saints
936:Catholic Encyclopedia
821:Catholic Encyclopedia
372:Catholic continuities
284:William of Malmesbury
203:Aldhelm of Malmesbury
201:'s "Martyrology" and
130:, is a collection of
42:) is a collection of
1015:, 22 September 2023.
706:Conon the Grammarian
556:improve this article
434:improve this article
267:Thomas of Chantimpré
258:, in particular his
236:Dialogus miraculorum
128:Christian literature
836:Scritti agiografici
752:(Online ed.).
714:Vincent of Beauvais
652:Hellados periegesis
528:Content and sources
1055:Hippolyte Delehaye
928:Louis René Bréhier
684:Augustine of Hippo
302:Der Heiligen Leben
124:liber lectionarius
69:Hippolyte Delehaye
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760:(Subscription or
688:Gregory the Great
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382:Heribert Rosweyde
362:Church of England
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1023:Attribution
743:"legendary"
399:Bollandists
325:in 1544 by
319:Georg Major
232:hagiography
207:Merovingian
142:Reformation
79:Terminology
40:legendarius
1096:Categories
764:required.)
728:References
582:newspapers
460:newspapers
331:Athanasius
323:Wittenberg
192:Cappadocia
66:Bollandist
930:(1910). "
656:Pausanias
246:stories.
32:legendary
722:Gelasius
710:Haggadah
612:May 2019
522:miracles
490:May 2019
260:Life of
252:Beguines
167:Josephus
1037::
694:in his
672:Ruinart
660:Photius
596:scholar
474:scholar
396:of the
386:Utrecht
360:in the
335:Rufinus
244:miracle
224:exempla
148:History
116:) and
101:legenda
89:legenda
56:or the
49:legenda
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