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Passionist religiosity was gradually established from the 12th and 13th centuries onwards, encouraged by the Franciscan ideals of imitation, meditation, and devotion to Christ, with St. Francis becoming the very image of sorrowful humanity as he received the stigmata of Christ. The medieval cult of the Passion, reiterated in the Council of Trent, continued into the Modern Age, and is preserved today in manifestations of spirituality and popular devotion, experienced through artistic images of the Passion of Christ, as well as the veneration of relics of Vera Cruz, the shroud, among others. The liturgy and devotion have used and still use these images in religious solemnities, of which the Holy Week ceremonies stand out, as well as in theatrical performances in which the image serves as a vehicle mediating between two worlds, the earthly and the celestial, following the itineraries of the Stations of the Cross which, from the 15th century onwards, allow us to relive the final stages of Christ's earthly life in the Holy Land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First Plantagenêt kings' veneration of saints and their relics constitutes a part of their politics to construct the «empire» and to strengthen their territorial power basis. First, interest for certain cults fits in with the search for dynastic legitimisation by celestial patronage, while Thomas Becket has become the kingdom's new saint patron. Some relic affairs reflect symbolic of power's translation (Edward the Confessor, Edmund, Martial and Valerie, the elevation of relics at Fécamp, the discovery of Arthur and Guinevere's tombs at Glastonbury). Kings' presence at significant translation ceremonials or their visits to shrines are linked to their territorial politics (St. Michel's Mount, Rocamadour, Grandmont, and the translation of St. Frithswyth at Oxford). At last, relics played an essential role in Richard the Lionheart's crusade expedition. The link between politics and relics cult can be explained by the belief in the virtus materially present in relics; in which their possession and exalting by the cult had to grant celestial protection of the kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chartula di Assisi is a relic of Francis of Assisi, it consists in a small fragment of parchment with two autograph texts, Laudes dei Altissimi and Benedictio Fratri Leoni Data, both written in 1224. In this article, taking into account the materiality of the parchment, we consider the object to be a conformation of textual and visual languages, which suggests various reading possibilities that present the same analogical meaning. Through the codicological and paleographic analysis of text and image, we propose an understanding of Benedictio Fratri Leoni Data as an assembly that makes use of a calligrammatic image to convey the act of blessing in a non-linear way that considers and access the spatiality of the parchment fragment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The monastery of the Descalzas Reales is known for housing women of the royal family. It was founded in 1559 by Princess Juana, sister of Philip II, and many prominent figures professed in this monastery, like the Empress Maria - also sister of the Prudent King-, or her daughter, sor Margarita de la Cruz. At the same time this place was visited by numerous queens, princesses and infants of the Hispanic Monarchy and from the other kingdoms. But it was a space of power too, a feminine palace with one of the largest collections of relics and reliquaries as private gifts to these royal women. There was no ambassador, nuncio, or legate who did not bring a box with relics for the illustrious nuns of the monastery. Due to their importance, their symbolic and diplomatic value, and because its care was one of the main activities in this religious center, the relics of the Monastery of the Descalzas Reales deserve to be studied as objects of worship, but also as gifts in the sphere of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Christianization of the city of Jerusalem (fourth century), the borders of Christendom were constantly changed. This factor intensified in the medieval context, due to the Muslim occupation both in the regions of the east, as the Iberian Peninsula. Military Orders, which arise after the First Crusade contributed significantly to the consolidation of this process. In Portugal the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, recognized by the papacy in the twelfth century played a significant role, through the Crato Priory. This consisted in commendations regime and bailias, local units of the hospitaller deployment in the region. Among these commendations, Marmelar's stands out in this text, by having in its interior a venerable fragment as derived from the Vera Cruz. This relic contributed to enlarge the spiritual heritage and prestige of the place, being subject of disputes, but also having political and demographic significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Useful tools in building the dynastic sacredness, the holy relics of Christ and the early martyrs were subject of disputes between kings and cities since its invention (discovery) in Palestine. The Christianity of the first centuries was already promoting a cult which, in medieval context, would reach its acme. Redistribution of the relics of the Passion, carried to extremes, encouraged the devotion of the christian, acquiring great symbolic importance both in your miraculous dimension and protective, as in the sense of promotion and demonstration of monarchical power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the journey undertaken by the chronicler Ambrosio de Morales, between June 1572 and February 1573, through Leon, Castile and Galicia, upon request of King Phillip II, paying particular attention to a specific dimension: that this journey and its protagonist be instruments in reaffirming royal power, by identifying relics, royal tombs and ancient books. These are elements which hold a symbolic power which the monarch was seeking to appropriate, in a process to build centralized power and the image of a Christian king, combining in the same project religion, politics and culture. To this end, we will analyze the relation between this journey, as described by the chronicler, and its contribution to the collection of relics held at the Real Monasterio de El Escorial [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author traces the origin and development of Christianity in the Hispanic peninsula in the times before Constantine became Emperor. The Hispanic churches had a strong doctrinaire cohesion, which brought persecution from the Roman authorities and led to the martyrdom of many Hispanic believers. It led also to many cases of apostasy. Among these B. Ribeiro focus on the case of the Libelatici. The picture that emerges from Ribeiro's reconstruction is of a dynamic and growing church, that had overcome the fierce persecutions of previous decades, and which avoided provoking the pagans; the Hispanic church was also very careful in the instruction of new converts, and required a austere conduct from the clergy. Although the Elvira Council (which ruled the Hispanic church) had not many distinguished doctors it never deemed it necessary to appeal to any other ecclesiastical authority than its own. Ribeiro also shows some tendencies already present in the church that led later to practices such as the worship of martyr's relics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]