LEGEND OF THE SAINTS: A STUDY OF MOTIF AND TALE TYPE OF HOLY PERSON’S LEGEND IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to study the tale type and motif of Christian saints in the Roman Catholic Church in the context of Thai society based on the Tale Type-Index of Folk-Literature by Stith Thompson. A total of 13 tales of saints in the context of the academy were collected and analyzed in terms of motif and tale type as holy people. The results of this research reveal that motif can be grouped into 8 important categories as follows; 1) Mortal visited by angel, 2) Prophecy, 3) Miraculous conception, 4) Poverty as saintly virtue, 5) Martyr, 6) Charity of saints, 7) Bravery, and 8) Clerical virtue of absolute faith.  In addition, the tale types were grouped into 4 categories as follows: 1) Mortal visited by angel; the distinctive motif is the angel appearing in front of humans to prophesy about their children, 2) Missionary; this can be divided into 2 sub-stories including 2.1) Missionary martyr; the main motif is being captured and tortured to prove their belief and 2.2) General missionary; the main motif is making the prophecy during hardship, 3) Charitable work; the notable motif is accepting poverty, working hard, and founding a charity organization, and 4) Miscellaneous; 3 tales cannot be categorized into any group of tale type. These remarkable tale types and motifs indicate that the saints had a lot of faith in following Jesus Christ’s footsteps, and they were role models in living a holy life for students in educational institutions named after them.