Article ID: CBB784684871

Playing God: Testing, Modeling, and Imitating Blood Miracles in Eighteenth-Century Europe (2017)

unapi

In the late Middle Ages, rumors began to spread throughout Europe regarding blood miracles associated with the relics of martyrs. Centuries-old blood, pulverized or solidified and black in color, was said to return to its original bright red color, or else to liquefy or bubble under certain circumstances or on certain dates in the liturgical calendar. With the Reformation, in Protestant countries most of these relics were either destroyed or forgotten. In Catholic countries, on the contrary, blood miracles multiplied, reaching a peak between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This article reconstructs the debate that sprang up in eighteenth-century Europe over the blood of Saint Januarius and the attempts made to disprove its miraculous properties, often not in written works, but by staging highly theatrical demonstrations. It examines the way in which, with phenomena as complex as miracles, the activities of testing alleged facts, creating elucidative models, and staging imitations intertwined over the centuries, often overlapping and becoming confused.

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Authors & Contributors
De Ceglia, Francesco Paolo
Tom Lynch
Renate Dürr
Zittel, Claus
Young, Francis
Wiślicz, Tomasz
Concepts
Science and religion
Roman Catholicism
Miracles
Christianity
Medicine and religion
Blood
Time Periods
18th century
17th century
19th century
Medieval
Enlightenment
Early modern
Places
Italy
Europe
England
United States
Rio de Plata Basin
Lithuania
Institutions
Habsburg, House of
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
Università di Bologna
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