The novel's publication provoked outrage from many Latin American politicians and intellectuals because its portrayal of the General is not the saintly image long cherished by many.

The church, with all its saintly images, is likely of the Catholic variety.

Yet they have acquired a saintly image.

Among the tangled byways, there were covered springs with carved stone spouts and saintly images painted or chiselled into the stone.

"That's a terrible problem I have," Mr. Breytenbach said of the saintly image, which he cheerfully admits is quite off.

But Nadal made it a little more personal when he threw in a sly dig at Federer's saintly image.

Then the saintly image was gone, and Evaine was cautioning him to say nothing of this to the others.

That leading role might help restore her saintly image; she plays Marianne Pearl, whose husband, Daniel, was kidnapped and murdered while reporting in Pakistan.

About the denigrating remarks about Mahatma Gandhi, the director said, "Gandhi has a saintly image created through our educational system and the media.

The saintly images invited the viewer to become closer to heaven and God through either martyrdom or monasticism.