Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics
In Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics Janine Larmon Peterson investigates regional saints whose holiness was contested. She scrutinizes the papacy's toleration of unofficial saints' cults and its response when their devotees challenged church authority about a cult's merits or the saint's orthodoxy. A...
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| Format: | Online |
| Langue: | anglais |
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Cornell University Press
2026
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| Accès en ligne: | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/110014 |
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| _version_ | 1869526446156808192 |
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| author | Peterson, Janine Larmon |
| author_browse | Peterson, Janine Larmon |
| author_facet | Peterson, Janine Larmon |
| author_sort | Peterson, Janine Larmon |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | In Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics Janine Larmon Peterson investigates regional saints whose holiness was contested. She scrutinizes the papacy's toleration of unofficial saints' cults and its response when their devotees challenged church authority about a cult's merits or the saint's orthodoxy. As she demonstrates, communities that venerated saints increasingly clashed with popes and inquisitors determined to erode any local claims of religious authority. Local and unsanctioned saints were spiritual and social fixtures in the towns of northern and central Italy in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In some cases, popes allowed these saints' cults; in others, church officials condemned the saint and/or their followers as heretics. Using a wide range of secular and clerical sources—including vitae , inquisitorial and canonization records, chronicles, and civic statutes—Peterson explores who these unofficial saints were, how the phenomenon of disputed sanctity arose, and why communities would be willing to risk punishment by continuing to venerate a local holy man or woman. She argues that the Church increasingly restricted sanctification in the later Middle Ages, which precipitated new debates over who had the authority to recognize sainthood and what evidence should be used to identify holiness and heterodoxy. The case studies she presents detail how the political climate of the Italian peninsula allowed Italian communities to use saints' cults as a tool to negotiate religious and political autonomy in opposition to growing papal bureaucratization. Open Access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-172148 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Cornell University Press |
| publisherStr | Cornell University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1721482026-02-20T05:06:37Z Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics Peterson, Janine Larmon Sainthood Inquisition Identity Italy Politics Saint's cults Medieval heresy Church history thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRM Christianity::QRMB Christian Churches, denominations, groups thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRM Christianity thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3K CE period up to c 1500 thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history In Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics Janine Larmon Peterson investigates regional saints whose holiness was contested. She scrutinizes the papacy's toleration of unofficial saints' cults and its response when their devotees challenged church authority about a cult's merits or the saint's orthodoxy. As she demonstrates, communities that venerated saints increasingly clashed with popes and inquisitors determined to erode any local claims of religious authority. Local and unsanctioned saints were spiritual and social fixtures in the towns of northern and central Italy in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In some cases, popes allowed these saints' cults; in others, church officials condemned the saint and/or their followers as heretics. Using a wide range of secular and clerical sources—including vitae , inquisitorial and canonization records, chronicles, and civic statutes—Peterson explores who these unofficial saints were, how the phenomenon of disputed sanctity arose, and why communities would be willing to risk punishment by continuing to venerate a local holy man or woman. She argues that the Church increasingly restricted sanctification in the later Middle Ages, which precipitated new debates over who had the authority to recognize sainthood and what evidence should be used to identify holiness and heterodoxy. The case studies she presents detail how the political climate of the Italian peninsula allowed Italian communities to use saints' cults as a tool to negotiate religious and political autonomy in opposition to growing papal bureaucratization. Open Access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities 2026-02-20T05:06:35Z 2026-02-20T05:06:35Z 2026-02-19T08:14:02Z 2019 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/110014 9781501742361 9781501742354 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/172148 eng open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/110014/2/9781501742354.pdf Cornell University Press Cornell University Press 05937e7b-c222-4680-9580-c09c5ce7a11e 9781501742361 9781501742354 Cornell University Press 270 Ithaca open access |
| spellingShingle | Sainthood Inquisition Identity Italy Politics Saint's cults Medieval heresy Church history thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRM Christianity::QRMB Christian Churches, denominations, groups thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRM Christianity thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3K CE period up to c 1500 thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history Peterson, Janine Larmon Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics |
| title | Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics |
| title_full | Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics |
| title_fullStr | Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics |
| title_short | Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics |
| title_sort | suspect saints and holy heretics |
| topic | Sainthood Inquisition Identity Italy Politics Saint's cults Medieval heresy Church history thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRM Christianity::QRMB Christian Churches, denominations, groups thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRM Christianity thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3K CE period up to c 1500 thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history |
| topic_facet | Sainthood Inquisition Identity Italy Politics Saint's cults Medieval heresy Church history thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRM Christianity::QRMB Christian Churches, denominations, groups thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRM Christianity thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3K CE period up to c 1500 thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history |
| url | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/110014 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT petersonjaninelarmon suspectsaintsandholyheretics |