Studia Polensia, Vol. 8 No. 1, 2019.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.32728/studpol/2019.08.01.05
THE COMPOSTELLAN DEVOTION AND THE MICHAELIC ONE ALONG THE SHEEP TRACKS: THE CASTEL DI SANGRO – LUCERA CASE IN SOUTHERN ITALY
Antonella Palumbo
; Centro Italiano di Studi Compostellani in Perugia
Abstract
The following paper wants to explain in a generic way the
importance of two sacred and charismatic medieval characters such as
Saint James the Greater from Santiago de Compostela in Spain and Saint
Michael Archangel from Monte Sant’Angelo in the South of Italy, through
their main icons, the devotions, the anthropological approaches and the
history of the pilgrimages that have called so many people in their own
cities.
Santiago de Compostela and Monte Sant’Angelo were two of the
most important places in the Middle Age. The representation of the saints
and their actions, which are described in ancient literary texts, explains
the origin of the cults and the following development of the pilgrimages
both through the main routes and through the alternative routes known
as “tratturi” or sheep tracks. Especially for the Castel di Sangro – Lucera
sheep track there are traces referred to the saints not only in the villages
touched by the grassy track, but also on the path itself.
There are aspects that are expressed better than others and they are
essential for the important “Civilization of Pilgrimages” as the icons and
the architectural structures: they can be defined as functional artistic ways
to communicate to all people not only in the past.
So, historical and artistic studies, but also anthropological and
literature fields of study are the relevant methodological approach to better
figure out the history of the compostellan and michaelic pilgrimages.
Keywords
Pilgrimage; routes; Saint James; Saint Michael; sheep tracks; worships
Hrčak ID:
229188
URI
Publication date:
4.12.2019.
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