Saints and Their Cults in the Atlantic World

Saints and Their Cults in the Atlantic World traces the changing significance of a dozen saints and holy sites from the fourth century to the twentieth and from Africa, Sicily, Wales, and Iceland to Canada, Boston, Mexico, Brazil, and the Caribbean. Scholars representing the fields of history, art history, religious studies, and communications contribute their perspectives in this interdisciplinary collection, also notable as the first English language study of many of the saints treated in the volume. Several chapters chart the changing images and meanings of holy people as their veneration traveled from the Old World to the New; others describe sites and devotions that developed in the Americas. The ways that a group feels connected to the holy figure by ethnicity or regionalism proves to be a critical factor in a saint’s reception, and many contributors discuss the tensions that develop between ecclesiastical authorities and communities of devotees. Exploring the fluid boundaries between pilgrimage and tourism, ritual and knowledge, articles assess the importance of place in saint veneration and shed new light on the relationship between a saint’s popularity and his or her association with holy relics, healing waters, and keepsakes purchased at a pilgrimage site. In addition to St. Benedict the Moor, medieval Irish pilgrimage art, and Ponce de Leon’s
Fountain of Youth , the authors discuss figures such as the Holy Child of Atocha, St. Winefride of Wales, Father Patrick Power, St. Amico of Italy and Louisiana, Our Lady of Prompt Succor, and the Icelandic bishop Gumundr Arason.