From Jerusalem to the Spanish Americas: Indulgenced objects and alms campaigns for the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land in the late seventeenth century
FBK Aula Piccola
Fondazione Bruno Kessler - Polo delle Scienze Umane e sociali
The year 1658 marked a turning point in the global circulation of devotional objects linked to the Franciscan Order and its role as papal protector of the Holy Land. In that year, one thousand medals were dispatched from Rome to Madrid, completing the first step in a longer journey across the Atlantic. Financed by the General Commissariat of the Holy Land in Rome, the medals were created with a specific purpose. Accounting records indicate they were destined for the West Indies, where their distribution, as part of alms collection campaigns for the Franciscans of the Holy Land, was explicitly intended to “increase devotion in those parts for the benefit of the Jerusalem alms.” To enhance their value, Pope Alexander VII endowed them with special indulgences. Using the Holy Land’s objects as a case study, this paper discusses the role of indulgences in shaping Catholic materiality in the early modern period. It examines how papal indulgences transformed objects into vehicles of spiritual grace while prescribing the conditions for their circulation and use. As instruments of both papal grace and governance, indulgenced objects highlight a key tension in the global expansion of Catholicism: while extending papal authority through religious networks, they also required careful oversight from Rome.
MATTIA CORSO | Università Roma Tre
Cycle of seminars: “Tavola ovale di storia moderna”
Scientific coordination:
Massimo Rospocher (FBK-ISIG)
Sandra Toffolo (FBK-ISIG)
The initiative is valid for the purposes of the right/duty to fulfill the obligation of teachers to keep up to date as provided for in the current contractual agreements of the school sector.
The talk will be held in English.
The presentation will be in-person in the FBK Aula Piccola while seats last and online.
Registration by March 11, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. is required in order to arrange the connection.
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Immagine: Biblioteca FBK ar 3-A-20 (1)
Guest Speakers
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Mattia Corso - SpeakerUniversità Roma TreMattia Corsi is a research fellow at the University of Roma Tre, working on the ERC-funded project 'HolyLab – A global economic organization in the early modern period: The Custody of the Holy Land through its account books (1600-1800)' (PI Prof. Felicita Tramontana). His research interests lie at the intersection of religious history and material culture, with publications addressing topics such as the use of blessed candles in exorcisms and deathbed rituals, the embodied experience of sin shaped by rituals of indulgence, and the reform of audience behaviour at Mass in the late sixteenth century. As part of HolyLab, Mattia’s current research examines the creation of a distinctive type of Agnus Dei, crafted by the Franciscans using soil from the holy places of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, as well as the transnational circulation of indulgenced objects through the network of the Commissariats.
Registrazione
La registrazione a questo evento è richiesta.
Registration closed on 11/03/2025.
Deadline: March 11, 2025 at 12.00
L'iniziativa è stata realizzata anche grazie al contributo della Direzione generale Educazione, ricerca e istituti culturali del Ministero della Cultura.