medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Good question, Meg.
There is some very basic information about Zita's cult in the old _Catholic Encyclopedia_ article on her:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15762a.htm
For Italian saints, a good starting point often including information on the cult is the _Bibliotheca sanctorum_ (Roma: Citta' Nuova, 1961-70; 12 vols. + Index vol.). Zita is in vol. 12 (printed 1969), cols. 1483-84.
Often one can get basic bibliography on a cult from the Bautz _Biographisch-Biographisches Kirchenlexikon_, whose on-line version often offers articles that have been revised and updated since their appearance in print. In the case of Zita, though, one would starve on this. See:
http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/z/zita.shtml
One way of finding more recent publications is to use the "find in page" (vel sim.) function of your browser on the "Elenco e schede bibliografiche" of the AISSCA (Associazione Italiana per lo Studio della Santita', dei Culti, dell'Agiografia):
http://www.unifi.it/unifi/storia/aissca/i-versio/biblio/schede1.htm
At the moment, this is broken up into four pages; a Zita article is cited on p. 3:
http://www.unifi.it/unifi/storia/aissca/i-versio/biblio/schede3.htm
There are current bibliographic surveys on Italy (and on various parts thereof) in volumes of Guy Philippart, ed., _Hagiographies: histoire internationale de la litterature hagiographique latine et vernaculaire en Occident des origines_ (Turnhout: Brepols, 1994- ) and in the annual journal _Hagiographica_ (ibid., 1994- ).
In the case of later medieval saints' cults Lucca one also should consult the historical work of Christine Meek (Trinity College Dublin), whose bibliography is here:
http://www.tcd.ie/Medieval_History/meek.html
Often one can also get pointers about later medieval cults in North Italian cities from Diana Webb's _Patrons and Defenders: The Saints in the Italian City-states_ (London: I. B. Tauris, 1996). Here the trick is to look under both the name of the saint and the names of cities in which the cult might be thought to have flourished. Zita is a case in point: she's not in the index, but see pp. 162-64 and related notes on p. 195 (in fact, Zita is not named on p. 162, but reading around in the notes will lead you to Webb's discussion on that page of a very pertinent provision of the Lucchese statute of 1308).
Medieval Lucca, by the way, is exceptionally well documented. For many places the available information is much scantier.
Best,
John Dillon
On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 14:26:10 -0500
"Cormack, Margaret Jean" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>Greetings all!
>I wonder if anyone can suggest scholarly studies about the CULTS OF St James the Greater, St. Zita of Lucca (about whom I know absolutely nothing, not even her feast day, but she apparently lived in the 13th century) and St. Peter Claver, who very much post-dates the timeframe of this list but perhaps someone has run across something on him.
>Also, what would list members (Phyllis?) suggest as an English language "first resource" for students or others investigating the development of the cult of a saint? I myself, after trying the Lexikon der Theologie und Kirche, would probably go to the Oxford Dictionary of Saints, but I'm wondering if there is something more recent and more oriented towards veneration rather than "biography".
>Thanks, and best wishes for the new year,
>Meg
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|