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Medieval Saints’ Cults as International Networks: The Example of the Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2016
Extract
Veneration of the saints was an important element of medieval piety and was pervasive throughout all levels of medieval society. In the early centuries of Christianity there was no formal process for declaring someone a saint and many cults were purely local affairs. However there were a number of saints who enjoyed an international cult. These were often major figures from the early days of Christianity, such as the apostles, the most famous perhaps being Peter, whose cult was centred in Rome at the heart of the western Christian establishment. For those cults that developed an international dimension, it is possible to view the transmission of the cult as creating a network or networks of individuals linked by their devotion to that particular saint. At one level this concept of a network is more metaphorical than actual. Individuals, unknown to each other, could share a common veneration for a particular saint. They were linked by their shared knowledge of the saint’s story, which provoked a common reverence. Indeed the actual transmission of the saint’s story can be considered to create a network of sorts as it passes from person to person, either by word of mouth or through the movement of written texts. A network of this sort can be considered to span both time and space.
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- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1994
References
1 Broadly speaking, there are two main kinds of saints’ stories, Vitae and Passiones. A saint’s Vita normally contains details of the saint’s life and death, and sometimes of miracles worked after death. A Passio is a tale of a saint’s martyrdom. Most saints would have a Vita but only some would have a Passio.
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