I finished “The Cult of the Saints” by Peter Brown today.<\/p>\n
Toward the end of the Roman Empire, the veneration of martyred saints and their relics became widespread, and continued to the time of the Reformation. What accounts for this? It was much more than mere<\/em> superstitious belief held mostly by the uneducated masses.<\/p>\n It filled a void, for one thing, left by the disintegration of the Roman Empire. Roman society had held in high regard the idea of patronage. Cities and larger towns benefited from wealthy patrons–Roman senators often–financially. But patronage also provided a certain security to a city’s citizens, a cohesiveness to a community made up of people, whether rich or poor, whether of noble or “vulgar” status, whether man, woman or child; a sense of identity in a society fractured by political chaos.<\/p>\n All kinds of people would participate in the patron saint’s festival. Many would journey outside the city to the holy cemetery, where real or imagined miraculous cures would take place at the tombs of the holy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I finished “The Cult of the Saints” by Peter Brown today. Toward the end of the Roman Empire, the veneration of martyred saints and their relics became widespread, and continued to the time of the Reformation. What accounts for this? It was much more than mere superstitious belief held mostly by the uneducated masses. It … <\/p>\n