It's a little late but an interesting read
Living Liminally: Saint Patrick, Druids, and Snakes https://lairbhan.blogspot.ca/2017/03/saint-patrick-druids-and-snakes.html?m=1
@kara one imagines so. A good PR department seasons even the most bland subject; hagiography is just that. 😉
@machariel I suppose I've hoped to believe that hagiographies were, at least, codifications of existing folk legends xD
@kara @machariel My favorite example of that HAS to be St. Walpurga
@paragate @machariel *reads* she's the most boring saint imaginable! how did she get associated with, well, THE NIGHT OF WITCHES MUHAHAHA
@kara Well what else is there to a good superhero story?
Also good PR is all about putting a subject's best (i.e. must culturally acceptable) face forward. Folk tales are culture distilled, filtered, and flavored, so any good hagiography is going to have to mirror and incorporate such themes.
@machariel yes, that is! I rather like that St. Patrick was actually quite dull...as I suspect most of the saints were, until some while after they died