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The article offers a revisionist account of the early circulation of copies of the Madonna of Santa Maria Maggiore, known since the nineteenth century as the Salus Populi Romani. Traditionally, the propulsion of the image into global circulation has been attributed variously to Pius V or Francisco Borja, the third Superior General of the Society of Jesus. The article argues that the circulation of the Saint Luke Madonna, as it was known at the time, was closely tied to the martyr’s cult that grew up around the Jesuit missionary Inácio de Azevedo and the so-called Brazil Martyrs, a group of Jesuits murdered by Calvinist corsairs off the Canary Islands in 1570. Azevedo had intended to carry a copy of the Roman icon to Brazil, a copy that perished at sea with Azevedo and the party of Jesuit missionaries. The article suggests that the popularity of the image among Jesuits in Europe and the overseas missions was fueled by the nascent martyr’s cult that followed Azevedo’s death. Painted copies of the Saint Luke Madonna came to function, together with relics of the Eleven Thousand Virgins of Cologne, as proxies for the missing material remains of the martyred Jesuits. The article argues that while the distribution of the image was globally extensive, circulation was restricted to an internal Jesuit martyr’s cult.

The social importance of saints’ relics during the European Middle Ages is well documented, yet relics have rarely been treated as mobile objects beyond discussions of their transportation from one permanent location to another (a “translation”). This dissertation examines the practice of taking relics on out-and-back journeys to explore the consequences of temporarily removing these objects from the churches in which they were housed and displayed, focusing on northern France and the Low Countries during the high Middle Ages. Medieval relics were considered direct conduits to the supernatural power of the saints, and an itinerant relic projected religious, economic, and political authority onto the areas it traveled through. However, travel also brought a relic into contact with unfamiliar audiences. Using evidence from customaries, hagiography, charters, and images, I demonstrate that while moving relics transformed them into versatile tools of power, it also exposed them to criticism, antagonism, and danger from both lay and ecclesiastical groups. The first chapter argues that relics traveled frequently and regularly by tracking the appearance of instructions for temporary relic movement across eleventh-century customaries, mainly from the monastery of Cluny. The next three chapters examine hagiographical texts to reveal the complexity of the interactions between those performing relic journeys and three groups that they might encounter en route: other ecclesiastics, lay property owners, and the laity at large. The second chapter shows that while bringing their relics together could serve as a demonstration of goodwill between multiple monasteries, moving one relic into the physical presence of another might also provoke intense conflict. The third chapter examines the roles mobile relics could play in monastic property disputes, ranging from intimidation of lay opponents to more subtle assertions of authority over a landscape. The fourth chapter demonstrates that although medieval lay devotion to relics is often taken for granted, a mobile relic might also incite dissent or rejection from local laypeople. Finally, the fifth chapter explores visual and textual imaginings of relic journeys and their significance, especially the use of the Ark of the Covenant as a motif to valorize the experience of transporting relics.

In the present study a special reference is made to the hagiographical relations between Byzantium and the West. The first part is dedicated to the "communication" of Byzantium with the West, on the role played by the Lives of Byzantine Saints, the transfer and honor of their relics and pilgrimages. The phenomenon developed after the 4th century, when an attempt was made to create a liturgical and worship communication between the two Churches and the Roman Martyrologium was formed in the West. The second part is dedicated to the "communication" of the West in Byzantium through the honor of the western Saints. In the next paragraph, we talk about "communication" through the holy relics of the Saints, and it is found that the phenomenon mainly concerned Saints of the East. The paper closes with some introductory notes on translators' translation options and techniques. En el presente estudio se hace una referencia especial a las relaciones hagiográficas entre Bizancio y Occidente. La primera parte está dedicada a la "comunicación" de Bizancio con Occidente, sobre el papel desempeñado por las Vidas de los santos bizantinos, la transferencia y el honor de sus reliquias y peregrinaciones. El fenómeno se desarrolló después del siglo IV, cuando se hizo un intento de crear una comunicación litúrgica y de adoración entre las dos Iglesias y el Martirologio Romano en Occidente. La segunda parte está dedicada a la "comunicación" de Occidente en Bizancio a través del honor de los santos occidentales. En el siguiente párrafo, hablamos de la "comunicación" a través de las reliquias santas de los santos, y se descubre que el fenómeno se refería principalmente a los santos de Oriente. El documento se cierra con algunas notas introductorias sobre las opciones y técnicas de traducción de los traductores.