Workshop: Handling Devotional Objects in Late Medieval and Early Modern Worlds. Materiality, Mobility, Anxiety (KNIR)
22 May – 24 May 2023 | KNIR Rome
This Colloquium looks into the materiality and mobility of small, portable devotional objects so central in Catholic devotion, such as crucifixes, blessed beads, images, rosaries, medals and the wax talismans known as Agnus Dei. Taking cue from the so-called material turn and recent interests in material religion, a group of twelve experts will explore how these objects functioned in devotional practices, and how they were instrumental in constructing identities, both on individual and collective levels. A special interest will be in the growing preoccupations of church authorities with the correct handling of these objects, both in global missionary endeavors and in areas where the authority of the pope was no longer accepted, such as Elizabethan England and the Low Countries.