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Copyright of Reti Medievali is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

From 1309 to 1523, Rhodes was ruled by the Order of the Knights of St. John. The relics of John the Baptist, their patron saint, held a prominent place in the Hospitallers’ devotion. Among the relics, his arm became a significant focus of attention and pilgrimage for the Christian world. After a brief review of the earliest references to the arm, its travels about the eastern Mediterranean, as well as some of the testimonies related to it, the representations of the saint’s arm in medieval painting are briefly examined. After 1204, the Knights appear to have had a direct or indirect connection with the proliferation and dispersal of the relics of the saint, aiming at political and economic benefits. The “miraculous replication” of the arm opened new perspectives for power and influence.

The paper discusses the relic of the head of the Serbian patriarch Pajsije, recently discovered in the Patriarchate of Peć monastery. Besides a painted cryptogram, the head also includes an extensive inscription with information about Pajsije’s title, time of reign, date of death and place of burial. Taking into account the historical and ideological context, the paper argues that the impetus for establishing Pajsije’s cult came from Patriarch Maksim, his follower and admirer. An analysis of archaeological documentation has shown that Pajsije’s tomb was located at the same spot as Patriarch Maksim’s grave later on. An icon of Patriarch Pajsije now kept in Ravenna made up a unified cultic ensemble with the coffin-reliquary.

This paper analyses the military use of holy relics, images, and other Christian apotropaic devices in the Roman-Persian wars. I examine a wide range of literary evidence from the 4th to the 7th century exploring where, why, and how different Christian objects were used in military contexts. Moreover, I consider different factors, as the local religious practices or the rivalry between the Christian Roman Empire and Zoroastrian Persia. I argue that the earliest military uses of relics and holy images happened in the context of the Roman-Persian conflict and frontier region, and that, during the 4th-7th centuries, these uses were much more common there than anywhere else. Also, that some local practices of this region could have been adopted by military officers and the Imperial elite. I propose that three factors could explain this: First, the intensity of the cult of relics and images in Syria and the Near East. Second, the growing identification of the Roman Empire as a Christian power between the 4th and 7th centuries. Finally, the Roman-Persian conflict and the climate of religious confrontation that grew over the course of the Byzantine-Sassanian wars.

The paper presents the results of analysis of typological, stylistic- technical, epigraphic and iconographic features of the luxurious panagiarion, part of a complex reliquary, in the treasury of the Tersatto Monastery near Rijeka. The size and content of the panagiarion, made of jewels, pearls and relics in silver gilded revetments, provide basis to classify it within the group of Late Byzantine pectoral panagiaria-reliquaries and enkolpia of diverse forms. The dedicatory inscription on its reverse refers to despotissa Barbara Frankopan, the wife of the Serbian despot Vuk Grgurević, as its patron. The inscription on its rim and capsule with a miniature relief of the Virgin with Christ place it within the field of Orthodox personal devotion. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177003: Srednjovekovno nasleđe Balkana: institucije i kultura]

Copyright of Il Capitale Culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage is the property of Il Capitale Culturale Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article discusses the ways in which the physical presence of consecrated virgins was perceived, described, and subsequently altered in Late Antiquity. In the course of the fourth and fifth centuries CE, through codes that regulated their behaviour and outward appearance, and through the assignment of specific ritual functions and spaces, bishops constructed a new and long-lasting image of consecrated virgins. The resulting model, the authors argue, was shaped by notions regarding female anatomy as well as by their association with the Virgin Mary; it was similar to a precious reliquary: a container whose aesthetic indicated the consecrated nature of its interior.

The author presents the findings of his own studies on the presence of relics and dedications in the churches of Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre in medieval Polonia Minor (covering the former Krakow and Sandomierz voivideships). The article reveals important accounts in Samuel Nakielski’s chronicle. The first account relates bringing the soil from Jerusalem by Jaksa and is known in literature. The second account concerns the possession of the relics of the Holy Cross by the monastery of Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre, hitherto unknown in literature. The author formulates a thesis on the existence of important relics of the Passion in the Miechów monastery. Key source accounts on dedications were analysed. It was indicated that the primary dedication of the Miechów church towards the end of the 18th century was a combined invocation of the Holy Sepulchre, the Holy Spirit and Blessed Virgin Mary. The author also extensively analyses the dedication of the church in Żarnowiec, with dedications to both feasts related to the Holy Cross, to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Sepulchre and Blessed Virgin Mary. The dedications of 10 other churches administered by Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre are also discussed. In addition, the author presents a substantial collection of data on the dedications of surviving altars and chapels in relation to the Miechów church and St Jadwiga’s Church in Stradom. In conjunction with the information on numerous relics of saints, the findings should become a departure point for further studies.

In this paper the different processes of medieval memory construction of Saints Adrian and Natalia are studied through the presence of their relics in the altars of some churches in Rome, León and Lisbon. Following the martyrdom of Saint Adrian in the East and the transference of his mortal remains by his wife to Byzantium, it was between the 7th and the 13rd centuries that their worship was developed in the Iberian Peninsula therefore creating significant worship strategies. This had consequences in written sources, architecture and epigraphy, points of investigation of this article.

Hagiographic studies have turned their attention to a particular type of homo viator: saints. Either in vita or post mortem, saints helped in the configuration of cultural centers, pilgrimage itineraries and sacred spaces by means of their tangible presence, their capacity of producing miracles, through their representative or real/actual relics or through sacred bodily remains. This paper focuses on the analysis of those phenomena that adopted various dimensions and it also values the function and the meaning given by the medieval and modern society to the doctrinal and religious discourse of ecclesiastic people and to the practices of popular Christian religiosity of the Andalusian region among the 5th and 17th centuries.

The article analyzes the miracles described in the biographies of two «founder- saints» who were active in Kãzarün, a small village of Fãrs during the ioth and 14th centuries. These miracles happened before the birth of them and anticipate their future sanctity. Their actions are inscribed in the Prophet Mutiammad tradition, they have also a pedagogical worth for the disciples. They anticipate the death of both holy men to immortalize their work as founders of the order. Finally these miracles, happen over the tombs of the saints attracting in this way the pilgrims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wśród dzieł Grzegorza spotykamy także kilka historycznych świadectw czci kobiecych relikwii i używania imion świętych kobiet w tytułach świątyń i klasztorów. Fragmenty te zwykłe mają znaczenie drugorzędne, choć np. w przypadku św. Felikuli świadectwo Grzegorza jest jednym z ważniejszych. Kobieta w oczach Grzegorza może być wzorem świętości, miłości, nadziei, otrzymuje dary Boże, na płaszczyźnie relacji z Bogiem jest nawet w możności przewyższyć mężczyznę.