Ein Fest für den Heiligen

During the Middle Ages the cult of saints was an essential part of religious life. As a result, the study of saints’ lives and other narrative sources is a well-established research area for medievalists. But these studies often marginalize liturgical sources and rarely take the reality of medieval saints’ cults into account. This volume, however, focuses on liturgical worship or, as the author calls it, ‘Hagiopraxis’, and its sources and manuscripts. This approach rests on the methodological assumption that saints in the Middle Ages were constructed and propagated not only in Vitae and Passiones, but primarily in liturgical practice, in its texts and artefacts. It was mostly these liturgically constructed saints who were called upon for help and protection, and who could act as role models for the medieval audience. This innovative approach is exemplified in this volume through the study of the medieval cult of Saint Zeno, patron of the north Italian city of Verona.