This volume analyses the phenomenon of the thefts of sacred relics in Medieval Italy, in particular through the stealthy translationes, the hagiographic stories narrating the transfer of the relics ...from one place to another after they were stolen. Thanks to the study of historical contexts, narrative dynamics, literary themes and anthropological aspects, the book attempts to reconstruct the richness and complexity of the phenomenon over the centuries, tracing the history of this specific aspect of the cult of saints, which is also the history of the culture and religious imagery of the Middle Ages.
The aim of this paper is to analyse the use of Catholic miraculous images during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy, focusing on the ways in which they have been used and the related rituals performed, ...especially involving movement, temporality, and nature. I take a multidisciplinary approach, based on a historical perspective, but enriched by the strong influence of anthropology and semiotics. An interesting focus emerges on the devotional practices, both online and, when possible, in presence, in which the miraculous power of historical images is rediscovered and sometimes re-elaborated in light of contemporary sensibilities. At the same time, the rituals performed by clergy constitute a complex negotiation, with the aim of imploring the miraculous power of the supernatural helper that the image represents. The devotees’ idea of a miraculous power involved in the image is itself part of the representation of their power.
This volume analyses the phenomenon of the thefts of sacred relics in Medieval Italy, in particular through the stealthy translationes, the hagiographic stories narrating the transfer of the relics ...from one place to another after they were stolen. Thanks to the study of historical contexts, narrative dynamics, literary themes and anthropological aspects, the book attempts to reconstruct the richness and complexity of the phenomenon over the centuries, tracing the history of this specific aspect of the cult of saints, which is also the history of the culture and religious imagery of the Middle Ages.
Our article focuses on the fame of sanctity of St. Gerard Majella (1726-1755), a lay brother of the Congregation of the most Holy Redeemer who lived in the South of Italy, and the elaboration of his ...memory. Through a historical and anthropological approach, we take into consideration different kinds of sources: the bio-hagiographical texts; the hagiographies; furthermore, and above all, the witnesses’ depositions in the canonization process. Firstly, we present the Saint and his canonization process. Then, we examine the question of the witnesses and their written or oral “sources”, from which emerges the highly “mediated” nature of the whole process, considering that they had not known Gerard on a personal basis. Our second part is aimed at studying the “elaboration of memory” through the analysis of an episode of the Saint’s youth, mentioned in the hagiographies and in the canonization process as well.
This paper analyzes some tales of the genre named furta sacra, written in Italy during the Middle Ages. After proposing a definition that can describe the specific nature of this genre within the ...broader framework of the category of translationes, the focus is on the cast of characters. In particular, this essay takes into consideration the writing strategies and the narrative functions linked to the key players of the furtum: the costumer and the thief, the helper and the tomb keeper, the opponent and the antagonist, the saint, the robbed community, and the community of the adventus. The goal of this paper is to reflect on the writing mechanisms of the hagiographer, particularly related to the confirmation of God’s intervention in the translation, the authenticity of the relics, and the presence of the saint in his new ‘home’.
The semiotic problem of flowers is not merely the province of specialists. It is a shared object of analysis in a wide range of human sciences: literature, history, anthropology, religious studies. ...The value of flowers depends on their position in the system of the culture in question. This system can be identified with the semiotics of the natural world of the considered culture. Depending on the context, each feature of the flower can be relevant to manifest a meaning. For this reason, flowers constitute a poetic repertoire of ready-made elements and syntagmas, an imaginary which can be used in literature and in any other semiotic system to convey rhetoric effects. As they are inserted in narrative structures, these effects can further transform their value. These shifts of value entail functional changes which can be reconstructed by the researcher and can be useful to investigate the relationship between different cultures and different epochs. Flowers and plants are important elements of many religious traditions, also because they play a crucial role in cosmogonies and myths of the origin. From the analysis of the case studies considered, a radical opposition and a constant oscillation between a concrete and a metaphoric/symbolic use of plants emerges. Another significant aspect is the presence of miracle accounts, in which the concrete dimension of plants is filled of supernatural references. In fact miracles put in communication two different dimensions: visible and invisible. Many of the considered tales reveal an etiologic aspect, with the aim to explain the origin of places and plants on the basis of supernatural events.
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