Pro tempore, No. 18, 2023.
Review article
The Body and Eucharistic Piety in Sermons of Ivan Belostenec (Abstract)
Ruben Prstec
Abstract
Eucharistic piety was both an emblem and an instrument of political legitimizing of the Habsburg dynasty in the Early Modern age. Simultaneously, the sacrament of the Eucharist upheld the authority of the Catholic clergy. Clergy was the only class with the right to consecrate the Host and make it effective in the process of salvation of the soul, and receiving the Host served as a reminder of the individual’s position in society. Ivan Belostenec’ ten sermons on the Eucharist are a part of the Habsburg central government’s dominant religiopolitical ideology discourse. The sermons deal with legitimizing, explaining and illustrating the sacrament of the Eucharist. In Belostenec’ post-Trent theology, various theological meanings are inscribed into the body; as into the sinful, rotten and ill human body, so into Christ’s holy and sinless body. In order to legitimize his theological position, Belostenec makes use of various parables and interprets the appropriate Biblical accounts. The Host is the Body of Christ - the way in which Belostenec lays this out and the parables he uses provide insight into the baroque perspective on the body and emotion, as well as on the role of eucharistic piety in Early Modern Habsburg Europe.
Keywords
eucharistic piety, Body of Christ, Ivan Belostenec
Hrčak ID:
316669
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2023.
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