In the Catholic areas of Europe, the human remains of persons (both their bones and the fabrics they touched) considered to have been exceptional are usually stored for transformation into relics. The production and the re-production of the object-relic takes place within monasteries and is carried out firstly on the material level. In this article I intend to present in detail, from an anthropological standpoint, the practices used to process such remains, the role of the social actors involved, and the political-ecclesiastical dynamics connected with them. Owing to obvious difficulties in accessing enclosed communities, such practices are usually overlooked in historiographical and ethno-anthropological analyses, while they should instead be considered the most important moment in the lengthy process intended to give form and meaning to remains, with a view to their exhibition and use in ritual.

In ambito europeo, entro le aree della cattolicità, i resti umani di persone ritenute eccezionali (sia parti ossee del corpo che tessuti venuti in contatto con esso) sono di solito tesaurizzati e trasformati in reliquie. La produzione e la ri-produzione dell’oggetto-reliquia avviene in ambiti claustrali e si realizza in primis sul piano materiale. In questo contributo intendo presentare in dettaglio, da un punto di vista antropologico, le pratiche messe in atto su tali resti, il ruolo delle attrici sociali che entrano in gioco e le dinamiche politico-ecclesiastiche ad esse collegate. Pratiche di solito trascurate dall’analisi storiografica e, per ovvie difficoltà di accesso alla clausura, anche da quella etno-antropologica, sono invece da considerarsi il momento più importante di quel lungo percorso che intende dare forma e senso al resto, in vista dell’esposizione e dell’impiego rituale.

F. Sbardella (2021). Against the sacred body. The processing of remains in Catholic circles. HUMAN REMAINS AND VIOLENCE, 7(1), 52-71 [10.7227/HRV.7.1.5].

Against the sacred body. The processing of remains in Catholic circles

F. Sbardella
2021

Abstract

In the Catholic areas of Europe, the human remains of persons (both their bones and the fabrics they touched) considered to have been exceptional are usually stored for transformation into relics. The production and the re-production of the object-relic takes place within monasteries and is carried out firstly on the material level. In this article I intend to present in detail, from an anthropological standpoint, the practices used to process such remains, the role of the social actors involved, and the political-ecclesiastical dynamics connected with them. Owing to obvious difficulties in accessing enclosed communities, such practices are usually overlooked in historiographical and ethno-anthropological analyses, while they should instead be considered the most important moment in the lengthy process intended to give form and meaning to remains, with a view to their exhibition and use in ritual.
2021
F. Sbardella (2021). Against the sacred body. The processing of remains in Catholic circles. HUMAN REMAINS AND VIOLENCE, 7(1), 52-71 [10.7227/HRV.7.1.5].
F. Sbardella
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/821952
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