 The most characteristic form of Merovingian literature is represented by the "Lives" of the saints.Merovingian hagiography did not set out to reconstruct a biography in the Roman or the modern sense, but to attract and hold popular devotion by the formulas of elaborate literary exercises, through which the Frankish Church channeled popular piety within orthodox channels, defined the nature of sanctity and retained some control over the posthumous cults that developed spontaneously at burial sites, where the life-force of the saint lingered, to do good for the votary.The "vitae et miracula", for impressive miracles were an essential element of Merovingian hagiography, were read aloud on saints’ feast days.