This text examines topics such as the characteristic traits/diverse functions of holy men; the fashioning of saints out of a minority of holy men and other individuals; the literary processes involved in the construction of hagiographical texts; and the role of hagiography in the creation of cults. The essays in this impressive collection revisit, or rediscover, the holy man, over a very wide geographical and chronological range ... who wants such stories told, and what are saints' lives for? This volume has greatly extended the range of answers.