Friday Book: Francis of Assisi: The Do-Good Dr Dolittle of Hagiography ; Francis of Assisi by Adrian House (Chatto & Windus, Pounds 17)

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IT WAS Pope Gregory the Great, at the end of the sixth century, who began the trend for sugary hagiographies. The lives of saints were intended both to inspire the faithful and keep them in line. For many scarcely literate medieval people, an account of some Christian martyr fending off the advances of the Devil would have been the only text they ever set eyes on, save for the Bible. Even in the latter half of the 20th century, schoolboys like me were still being directed to the piety stall in the back of the church to pick our confirmation saints by browsing through the accounts of holy men in Catholic Truth Society pamphlets.

Those racks of devotional literature …