Hagiographies have a bad name. Along with other instances of sacred vocabulary, such as “icon,” “charismatic” and “epiphany,” the word has been secularized and then devalued by overuse. Yet hagiography, properly speaking, is no mere panegyric but an attempt to fathom the mystery that we call sanctity. Even the most reverent lives of the saints may shine a light upon dark times and places.
At such a time and in such a place lived Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II in 1978 and was canonized last year. Few saints have inspired so many or bequeathed so shining an example to posterity.
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