feast that commemorated the day of that saint’s death, that is, the day on which he or she
had been born into eternal life. Such commemoration could be as simple as the inclusion
of the saint’s name in the recital of the martyrology—the list of martyrs and other saints
whose feasts fell on a given day, as part of the Mass or monastic office. A variety of
martyrologies circulated during the Middle Ages, the most influential of which was the
Martyrologium Hieron-ymianum, falsely attributed to Jerome. Saints of significant
stature, either universally or locally, were provided more elaborate commemoration on
their feasts, ranging from readings taken from the saint’s life to processions bearing their
relics. Monastic communities celebrated a round of feasts on which they not only
commemorated the saints but prayed for their intercession. Liturgical calendars specific
to dioceses, monasteries, or religious orders abound in medieval manuscripts, most
particularly in Sacramentaries and in those collections of hagiographic readings known as
“legendaries.”
The other most important form that the veneration of saints assumed was the cult of
relics. These were physical objects associated with the saints. The most important relics
were the saints’ corpses, or fragmentary parts of their bodies. They were literally, in
Latin, that which the saint had left behind (reliquiae) or pledges of the saints’ sacred
power (pignora). Tokens, such as bits of cloth (brandea) or vials of water that had
touched the body or its shrine, also assumed the status of relics, while objects that a saint
had possessed, such as a crozier, might likewise become important memorials. Relics
were not a representation of the saint but his or her physical presence. This was most true
of corporal relics, for the saint’s body was the part of a saintly person that remained in
this world awaiting resurrection at the time of the Last Judgment. Relics thus provided a
physical link between the Kingdom of Heaven, where the soul of the saint resided, and
this world, where the shrine guarded the saint’s bodily remains.
The purpose of the cult of saints was to aid Christians of lesser stature in their search
for salvation. As members of the divine court, the saints possessed God’s favor and could
mediate on behalf of the souls of the deceased, helping them to procure entrance into
Heaven. This idea is graphically depicted on the tympanum of the church of Conques:
Christ sits in majesty overseeing the final Judgment, while the figure of St. Foy, whose
relics were enshrined within the church, kneels next to his ear, pleading the case of those
who have sought her powers of intercession. The powers of the saints were not confined
to the afterlife. Since disease and other afflictions were seen in part as punishment for sin,
pilgrims came to the shrines of the saints in search of miraculous cures. The saints served
as patrons who provided benefits to their clients, although the manner in which they
dispensed patronage varied according to changing social norms.
The origins of the cult of relics in the western Roman Empire are to be found in the
care lavished by Christian families on the tombs of their ancestors in the cemeteries
located outside urban centers. Particular attention was given to the tombs of martyrs and
other people considered holy. In time, churches were erected over these spots, attracting
pilgrims who sought miraculous cures and families who wished to have members of their
clans interred in or near these same churches (ad sanctos) in the hope that they would
share in the bodily resurrection of the saints on the Day of Judgment. Communities of
monks came to serve these churches, their patron saints, and their clientele. Such
suburban monastic shrines became an important characteristic of the topography of the
cities of the late empire.
The Encyclopedia 1609