Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation.
Collins, David J.
Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? Saints and Worshippers from
the Martyrs to the Reformation. By Robert Bartlett. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University, 2013. Pp. xviii + 787. $39.95.
Advice on how to approach Bartlett's early history of the cult
of the saints in the Latin West may be taken from a story he includes
about Hugh of Lincoln. While venerating the Magdalene's relics at
Fecamp, Hugh bit off two fragments with his teeth and handed them to his
chaplain, saying "look after these with especial care" (243).
Similarly, B.'s encyclopedic work is a highly synthetic and
enjoyable read, especially in small bites. The first seventh of his 637
pages of text sketches the religious phenomenon chronologically. The
rest is a systematic review of what the cult of the saints encompassed
and its place in medieval society. B. demonstrates how the veneration of
saints developed within the context of a religious community that itself
underwent tremendous and constant transformation in late antiquity and
beyond.
Well versed in the materials and deft in expository style, B.
avoids many sloppy historical shortcuts, as when, for example, he
extends consideration of martyr saints beyond late antiquity and into
the mission fields of the Middle Ages. At the same time, his reliance on
the Protestant Reformation as a terminal point exaggerates both its
influence and theological homogeneity, thereby underrating the critical
work of Renaissance authors who foreshadowed the emergence of the
Bollandists.
In its systematic section, the volume covers such topics as
shrines, pilgrimage, relics, miracles, art, literature, the sanctoral
calendar, and saintly typology. B. attends sensitively to matters of
historiography, as in his evaluation of the quantitative analysis of
saints that was so common toward the end of the previous century. His
conclusion offers insightfully summarized reflections on the Augustinian
question that gives the volume its title.
The back matter is especially valuable: the bibliography is
extensive and the index thorough. In short, B.'s work is
astonishingly comprehensive, and the balance he strikes between
narration and analysis is admirable.
David J. Collins, S.J.
Georgetown University, Washington
DOI: 10.1177/0040563914538732
