JaBbA's Hut

I've just come across the word Hagiography/hagiographic twice this week.

The first was when I was reading about the Matyrdom of St. Laurence. There is no historical account of his actual death, and he was most likely put to death, in the standard way, with the other church employees of his time. But "here is where the accounts of historians and hagiographers begin to differ". The hagiography says that he begged to be killed along with his master, and that he was grilled to death, but his faith was such that at one point he said to his torturers "Turn me over, I'm done on this side." (thanks to Weez for the link which wasted part of an afternoon)

Clearly, a work of fiction, rather than history. Fascinating, though.

So it's interesting that in the Time article about Karen Hughes' upcoming book Ten Minutes from Normal, the author writes

Bush aides are counting on Hughes' hagiographic portrait of the President as a near flawless leader in turbulent times to serve as an antidote to the searing criticism in the recent book by Bush's former counterterrorism czar, Richard Clarke, or the one that former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill produced with journalist Ron Suskind. (emphasis mine)

hag·i·og·ra·phy n. pl. hag·i·og·ra·phies

1. Biography of saints.
2. A worshipful or idealizing biography.