Theft of Relics in the Central Middle Ages

by Thieeef

I'm reading from a text titled exactly as my Reddit post is titled.

And excerpt from the text reads as follows:

A Key ingredient in the development of the cult of a new patron was the acquisition of his or her relics; and possession of the remains of a popular saint could mean the difference between a monastery's oblivion and survival. Hence, the acquisition of relics was a real necessity, and, as ever, the only means of acquisition were purchase, gift, invention, or theft.

I'm a bit confused by this:

  1. What exactly is a/the "cult" referred to in the first sentence?
  2. What is an example of a "Monestary" and why do they essentially need the relics of a popular saint to "survive"?
sunagainstgold

"Cult" in this sense comes from the Latin cultus, meaning (among many things) veneration--you may be familiar with the phrase "cult of the saints" if you are Catholic. An individual saint's "cult" would be the practice of venerating that particular saint and the means to practice the veneration. Praying the rosary, for example, is an act of venerating the Virgin Mary--part of the cult of the Virgin.

In medieval Europe, some of the things a saint's cult might involve include:

  • Prayers to them
  • Hymns and church services in their honor
  • Hagiographies, or stories of the saint's life, holiness, and miracles worked through them
  • Shrines that people could make pilgrimages to, to honor the saint and pray for intercession
  • Churches, monasteries, and other religious groups named after them and thus connected to them for intercession (on behalf of the people) and veneration (to the saint, to honor God through them)

A monastery is a place where monks or nuns lived in a community to spend their days praying, reading, and doing some manual labor (Cistercian nuns in France, for example, often ran nursing home-type places for "lepers") without leaving the monastery and its immediate walled enclosure. If you've seen Sound of Music, think of the convent that Maria leaves to become the von Trapps' governess.

Relics are physical remnants of a saint or religious legend--Marie d'Oignie's fingers, shards of the True Cross, the foreskin of infant Jesus (medieval Catholics built up a whole legend surrounding his circumcision, not mentioned in the Bible). In the Middle Ages, they would typically be stored in a container--often fancy--called a reliquary for protection and to enhance the appearance of their specialness. That's what is being stolen here, especially bones (or entire skeletons) of saints.

Relics were important because they anchored a pilgrimage destination. On one hand, lay people would travel to the church/monastery/chapel to pray for an intercessory miracle and venerate the saint...and ideally, give thanks to the saint for his or her efforts with a tidy donation to the religious house.

More importantly, though, possessing the relics of a popular saint made a particular religious site an even more popular place for rich aristocrats to donate money and land. They would support the monastery financially in exchange for the monks/nuns to say prayers and perform Masses for their souls. The connection with the saint through the physical relics made the prayers seem more spiritually powerful.

There is certainly also an element of profane or worldly power here, too. It was fashionable to support the most prestigious religious foundations, and one way for those places to become more prestigious was to have more and better relics.

If you're reading the 1990 edition, Geary gives a neat summary of the financial importance of relics on pp. 21-22.