Relics and Penitence:
Why a pilgrimage?
• Search for redemption of sins. • Born into sin, and the only people who can aid others remove sin are the ordained members of the clergy. • Most images cannot be understood solely as art, but more as reminders of the salvation / role of Christ / remind oneself of one’s own sin / penalties for sin. • Pilgrimage perhaps gained Indulgences.
Where would you go?
• Where there would be important relics of saints / Mary / Jesus. They endured various tortures before their death, and then their tortured bodies were used to create relics. • Relics were often sold, for increasing amounts depending on the object and the importance of the saint. • Rome (Sts. Peter and Paul) • Chartres (the mantle of Mary) • Santiago de Compostela (St. James)
Reward:
• Normally these relics are indulged with magical powers and can commit miracles. Must come as near as possible with these relics. • E.g. Around 1300 in Rome – they promised that if you came to Rome and saw the main 7 churches, one would receive certain indulgences. Some of your sins are taken off. • However, indulgences would not free you of your sins for all time, but after that time.•Pilgrims often returned with objects from those areas which were mentioned in the Bible, for liturgical uses and personal memories. Many relics were stolen, faked etc.
Reliquary Casket, late 6th C, Rome, Museo Sacro Cristiano
• Stones were collected to line up with the images as “witnesses” of those areas.
Pilgrim Flasks: (Late 6th or Early 7th C, Cathedral treasury, Monza).
• From Palestine showing the Adoration of the Magi and the Ascension.
Sacred image / Cross: they are containers, occasionally containing a relic. (Enkolpia (encolpion))
Pilgrimage churches across France were often built in a very similar style. Design of the churches was designed to contain and allow through the greatest number of pilgrims – not a narrow, unlit underground crypt, but rather at the head of the church.
Toulouse, St. Sernin, Porte Miegeville, tympanum:
• A reference to both Santiago de Compostela and to Rome as well.
Conques, ste. Foy (Fides), the tympanum with the Last Judgement. (handcuffs illustration in the image – praying for prisoners). Reliquary of Saint Foy – a 3D image, and thus appears to be similar to a pagan god – what are you focussing on when worshipping the statue? Idolatory. This is a relic container, and the actual person themselves in heaven is different, but provides a link which allows for the worshipment.
• Made from a roman helmet and ancient cameos. • The stones used to adorn the statue correspond exactly with the descriptions of the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem from the apocalypse. • The relic was stolen by a monk from another nearby city and thus the cult was established in Conques (?)
The term “reliquaries” is somewhat nebulous. It fails to describe the complex function of the object that contains relics.
These functions vary, according to the source of the relic and comissioner of the relic.
• Arm reliquaries were actively used in liturgical practices.
Portable reliquary altar of St. Andrew. Gold, ivory, enamel. C. 980. Trier, Germany.
Reliquary of Saint Foy. Gold over wood, incorporating an ancient Roman helmet and cameos. 331/2in.
11th-12th C with later additons. Cathedral treasury, Conques.
Conques, Ste. Foy (FIdes). The tympanum with the Last Judgement.
- Note the contrast between ordered forms on the left and chaos on the right.
The devil in the centre scene looking backwards towards heaven.
- On the second register to the left, an image of St Foy kneeling and being blessed by a hand from above, and
beside her are chains and shackles – she was renowned for showing mercy to and releasing prisoners.
- Striking image of the Judgement scene. The devil appears to be pushing down the scale, and the outcome of the judgement is decidedly unclear. Thus more menacing for those who see the image.
- Punishment of the major sins – including hanging and having one’s tongue removed.
