The Cult of Relics in the Letters and ‘Dialogues’ of Pope Gregory the Great: A Lexicographical Study

Abstract

Late antiquity and the early Middle Ages witnessed a change in the Christian attitude toward the remains of the saints. Holy bodies came to be treated less and less as normal corpses, worthy of special veneration but still subject to many of the laws and customs which had regulated the treatment of human remains in pagan Antiquity. They came rather to be viewed as cult objects which could be moved or even divided up according to the demands of religion with little regard for earlier prohibitions of these practices. This change occurred relatively early in the Greek, eastern portion of the Roman Empire. In the mid-fourth century the Caesar Gallus translated a saint's body from one tomb to another, and less than two centuries later Justinian asked Pope Hormisdas for portions of the bodies of the apostles. Despite some outstanding exceptions such as the translations performed by St. Ambrose, the Christians of the West were more conservative in these matters. Nevertheless, by the ninth century at the very latest, western Christians had followed the lead of the eastern church in both translating and dismembering holy bodies.

L'epigramma bizantino per la croce e la crocifissione di Cristo come mezzo di promozione dell'ideologia imperiale a Bisanzio

“…Per il ruolo dei patriarchi nel periodo dell'Iconoclastia cfr. Alexander (1952, Baudinet (1978), Byckov (1989), Darrouzes (1987), Déroche (1994), Florovsky (1950), Gouillard (1961), McCulloh (1976, Mondazin-Baudinet (1989), Speck (1984, 1997.…”

The temptations of cult: Roman martyr piety in the age of Gregory the Great

“…The routinized character of the letters is suf®ciently clear, however, to support the case, made forcefully by John McCulloh, that Gregory followed established custom rather than breaking new ground in his relic policy. 50 Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it is Gregory's promotion of the cult of St Peter which takes centre stage (directly attested in over twenty letters). 51 Most common are the golden keys, tokens which Gregory sent to important contacts immediately on his accession to the papacy, and which he continued to use to send out in the course of his tenure of of®ce.…”

The Construction of Value in the Ancient World

“…The second article, less known but I think in its own way as significant, was John McCulloh's "The Cult of Relics in the Letters and Dialogues of Pope Gregory the Great: A Lexicographical Study" (McCulloh 1976). While this article is, as its subtitle implies, a careful analysis of Gregory's use of the terms reliquae, beneficia, sanctuaria, benedictio, and brandeum, the core of the study is Gregory's response to the 594 request of Empress Constantina (ca.…”