Saints' sagas
Saints' sagas are a genre of Old Norse sagas comprising the prose hagiography of medieval western Scandinavia.
The corpus of such sagas and their manuscript attestations was surveyed by Ole Widding, Hans Bekker-Nielsen, L. K. Shook in 1963. Their work revealed over 100 different saints' lives, mostly based on Latin sources. Few are of Icelandic saints, with only Jón Ögmundarson, Þorlákr Þórhallsson, and Guðmundr Arason being candidates.
In the words of Jonas Wellendorf:
While the sagas of the Icelanders might be the unique contribution to world literature that clearly demarcates Old Norse-Icelandic literature from other literary traditions in the Middle Ages, and indeed other periods as well, the lives of saints connect the very same literature with the rest of Western Europe.
These sagas are preserved in many medieval manuscripts. Two notable collections are Kirkjubæjarbók, which is exclusively concerned with female saints, and Codex Scardensis which gathers together lives of the apostles.
List of Sagas
The following list of sagas is taken from Wolf's The legends of the saints in Old Norse-Icelandic prose. The corresponding saints are listed in parentheses after the saga titles. Material relating to saints which is incorporated into other sagas is listed separately, below.- Agǫtu saga
- Agnesar saga
- Alexíss saga
- Ambrósíuss saga biskups
- Amícus saga ok Amilíus
- Andréss saga postola
- Önnu saga
- Antóníuss saga
- Ágústínuss saga
- Barbǫru saga
- Barlaams saga ok Jósafats
- Barthólómeuss saga postol
- Basilíuss saga
- Af Beda presti
- Benedikts saga
- Blasíuss saga
- Af Bónifacío
- Af frú Aglais
- Brandanuss saga
- Katrínar saga
- Cecilíu saga
- Kristófórs saga
- Klements saga
- Kross saga
- Af Cuthberto
- Exemplum af Sankti Sipríano þeim góða mann
- Díónysíuss saga
- Dóminíkuss saga
- Dórótheu saga
- Dúnstanuss saga
- Játvarðar saga
- Elisabetar leiðsla
- Erasmuss saga
- Plácíduss saga
- Fídesar saga, Spesar ok Karítasar
- XL riddara saga
- Af Sindulfo ok hans frú
- Georgíuss saga
- Egidíuss saga
- Gregors saga páfa
- Gregors saga biskups
- Guðmundar saga
- Hallvarðs saga
- Hendriks saga og Kúnigúndísar
- Jakobs saga postola
- Jakobs saga postola
- Jerónímuss saga
- Jóns saga baptista
- Jóns saga gullmunns
- Jóns saga postola
- Tveggja postola saga Jóns ok Jakobs ens eldra
- Jóns saga helga
- Af Lanfranco
- Lárentíuss saga erkidjákns
- Lazaruss saga
- Lúcíu saga
- Magnúss saga Eyjajarls
- Malkuss saga
- Af Marcellíno páfa
- Margrétar saga
- Af Marínu munk
- Mark
- Mǫrtu saga ok Maríu Magðalenu
- Marteins saga biskups
- Maríu saga
- Maríu saga egipzku
- Af Maríu de Oegines
- Matheuss saga postola
- Máritíuss saga
- Máruss saga
- Mikjáls saga
- Nikuláss saga erkibiskups
- Nikuláss saga af Tólentínó
- Niðrstigningar saga
- Óláfs saga helga
- Osvalds saga
- Páls saga postola
- Páls saga eremita
- Pétrs saga postola
- Tveggja postola saga Pétrs ok Páls
- Af Celestíno ok Bonifacío páfum
- Filippuss saga postola
- Remigíuss saga
- Rokluss saga
- Sebastíanuss saga
- Servasíuss saga
- Sjau sofanda saga
- Silvesters saga
- Tveggja postola saga Símons ok Júdass
- Seljumanna þáttr
- Theódórs saga
- Thómass saga postola
- Thómass saga erkibiskups
- Heilagra þriggja konunga saga
- Þorláks saga biskups
- Af Úrsúlu
- Vincentíuss saga
- Heilagra feðra œfi
- Vítuss saga
- Valbjargar jartegnir
Saints' lives incorporated into other texts
Maríu saga
- Af Anselmo
- Af Bernardo
- Af Bonito
- Af Eadmundo
- Af Eusebío
- Af Francisco
- Af Fulberto
- Af Heremanno
- Af Hugo
- Af Húgo ábóta
- Af Hildifonso
- Af Jóhanne elemosinario
- Af Jóhanne Damasceno
- Af Leó páfa
- Um Maternus
- Af Ódílo ábóta Odilo of Cluny
- Af Pétro Clarevallensis
Other texts
- Gereon
- Gregory Thaumaturgus
- Hippolytus
- Leonard of Noblac a short legend of this saint is included in a prayer to Saint Margaret of Antioch)
- Pantaleon
- Pelagia
- Salinus
- Sixtus II
- Stephen of Grandmont
- Thais
- A passion of Tiburtius and Valerian is included in Cecilíu saga
- There are Old Norwegian and Old Icelandic translations of Gregory the Great's Dialogues