The Role and Function of the Latin Hagiographic Epic

In the Catholic Church, the Saints and the Blessed are of fundamental importance, both in dogmatic doctrine and in religious practice: devout believers consider them as mediators with God, to whom they entrust their sorrows and fears, and to whom give thanks for the favours they have received. This kind of pious devotion is reflected in artistic representations that adorn every church building, and is also evident in the countless texts that have glorified the Saints since the ancient origins of Christianity. With time, however, the proliferation of the cult of saints became unmanageable, and, in 1634, prompted Pope Urban VIII to intervene: His papal bull Caelestis Hierusalem Cives (Citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem) created a stricter framework for the often somewhat arbitrary veneration of these figures. This regulation also affected hagiographic literature, which, as an expression of piety, certainly helped generate, influenced, and enhanced the practice of cultic worship. Following the invention of the printing press, these writings could reach not only the narrow circles of an educated elite from the upper social classes, but also a wider audience craving for texts about Saints. Concentrating on hagiographic epic poetry written in Neo-Latin, the project looks at a significant part of these hagiographic texts and investigates their role in the processes of canonization. In this context, both religious and political motives are significant, and will be discussed accordingly. Three categories of texts will be considered, each of which comes into play at a different stage of the respective proceedings: The first group consists of epics which try to establish a new cult or to spread abroad a local one either without or with delayed success; the texts of the second group engaged in ultimately successful procedures; the epics of the last group seek to promote newly established cults. In questioning the function of these texts, their literary form will also play a role. The main issue will be how the tradition of ancient epic, which is very much alive and visible in them, is being made usable for new propagandistic purposes. However, it also seems important to determine characteristics that distinguish them from other sources on the life and work of the Saints on the one hand here, above all, the vitae (lives of the Saints) in prose and from forms of traditional, non- hagiographic epic poetry on the other. Not least because of this approach, combining both pragmatics and aesthetics of the texts studied, the project will make an important contribution to closing a major research gap. So far, scholarship has paid little attention to Neo-Latin hagiographic epic poetry, which is why new insights are not only desirable per se, but will also lead to a deeper understanding of the religious culture of the early modern period.

After the Reformation, the Catholic Church strived to consolidate dogmatic doctrine and cult practices - part of this reform programme constituted the veneration of saints which was strongly contested in Reformation movements. In this respect, the bull "Caelestis Hierusalem Cives", issued by Pope Urban VIII in 1634, marked an important point, as it not only granted to the pope an exclusive right to decide on cultic matters and thus on canonisation, but also gave him control over all forms of public worship. This regulation also affected hagiographic literature, which circulated both in print and manuscript. As an expression of intentional piety, it helped to generate, influence and develop processes of cultic worship. These three aspects fall into the term 'saint-making' which implies that sanctity or rather the features associated with sanctity are a dogmatic and cultural construct. Focusing on Neo-Latin epic poetry , the project was concerned with an essential part of early modern hagiography: while pursuing the question about their function exercised in canonisation processes, religious as well as political and private motives were emphasised. The main thesis that the considerable amount of hagiographic epics not only retell the life and work of their protagonists, but also contribute to saint-making and partly reflect on its course in their content, could be proven on the basis of several instructive case studies. Thus, three categories of texts were considered, each of which is involved in a different stage of saint-making: the first group includes poems that attempt - either without or with a delayed success - to establish a new cult; the texts in the second group react to a recently completed process; the epics in the last group go back to a long-completed process or attempt to recontextualise an already established saint or to further disseminate its cult. Not least through this focus, combining pragmatics and aesthetics of the texts in question, the project has shown that hagiographic epic poetry, which has only been treated selectively in Neo-Latin area due to its complexity in terms of content and function, and has been neglected in interdisciplinary studies on cult of saints as an unreliable source on the biography of the protagonists, represents a significant added value for research on religious and political culture of the early modern period. As a result, numerous and diversified dissemination activities led to establishing the project's topic in international and interdisciplinary research and also paved the way for further thematically related grants of international relevance (MSCA Fellowship, FWF Special Research Area), in which the project staff are involved in a leading role.