Contested Sanctity: Disputed Saints, Inquisitors, and Communal Identity in North-Central Italy, 1250-1400

FAIN: FT-57651-10

Janine Larmon Peterson
Marist College (Poughkeepsie, NY 12601-1387)

This monograph examines how politics to a great extent determined the survival, or demise, of local saints' cults through an investigation of the phenomenon of disputed saints. Disputed saints were individuals whom the populace venerated in the face of papal and inquisitorial opposition. Their cults constituted a direct challenge to the papacy's spiritual authority as well as to its claims for temporal authority as a terrestrial lordship. I examine the social and political contexts of specific communities engaged in such struggles. These micro-historical studies are the basis for my larger contention that disputes regarding the legitimacy of local saints became a means through which the towns of north-central Italy articulated their desire for political and religious autonomy. The study of disputed saints contributes to the larger historical dialogue regarding how popular protest functioned as a negotiating tool between dominant and subordinate groups.

Associated Products

“Episcopal Authority and Disputed Sanctity in Late Medieval Italy.” (Book Section)
Title: “Episcopal Authority and Disputed Sanctity in Late Medieval Italy.”
Author: Janine Larmon Peterson
Editor: Trpimir Vedriš
Editor: John S. Ott
Abstract: This paper examines how bishops in north-central Italy during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries challenged the new canonization process by supporting local cults in the face of official opposition. Bishops often identified with local rather than papal interests in a bid to assert their autonomy and their traditional prerogative to determine sanctity. Bishops thus often championed the cults of individuals, whom popes or papal agents considered suspect or unworthy of veneration, often incurring a reprimand in return. This phenomenon can be observed in the examples of Bishop Alberto Prandoni of Ferrara, who spearheaded canonization efforts for the sentenced heretic Armanno Pungilupo; of Bishop Rainaldo IV of Ascoli, who supported the thrice-condemned local holy man Meco of Ascoli; Bishops Obizzo of Parma and Rolando Taverna of Spoleto, who protected Gerardo Segarelli (ultimately burned as a relapsed heretic); as well as the bishops of Parma, Reggio-Emilia, and Cremona who countenanced the veneration of Albert of Villa d’Ogna.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/saintly-bishops-and-bishops-saints/oclc/829679950
Access Model: Subscription
Publisher: Croatian Hagiography Society
Book Title: Saintly Bishops and Bishops’ Saints: Proceedings of the 3rd Hagiography Conference
ISBN: 9789535620518

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