From Stigmata to Pizza – Constructions of Sanctity

Saints’ cults mushroomed in the later medieval period, especially as popes claimed to be the arbiters of who should or should not be reverenced as a holy person. This talk will look at some ways in which the traits of a candidate for sainthood could be created, modified, or ignored.

Since 2020, George Ferzoco is based in the Department of Classics and Religion at the University of Calgary, where he is Visiting Fellow in the Calgary Institute for the Humanities. A Toronto native, he completed his B.A. at St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto. With Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, George is the only U of T graduate to hold this Goggio visiting professorship. Previously, with his wife (Prof. Carolyn Muessig), he lived in the United Kingdom for 27 years, teaching mainly at the universities of Exeter, Leicester, and Bristol. George’s research focuses on late medieval religious culture, especially on official and popular propaganda. He has published on Dante, saints’ cults, (e.g., Hildegard of Bingen, Peter of the Morrone, Catherine of Siena), and manuscripts. He has lectured on such topics (as well as on Federico Fellini) throughout Australia, Europe, and North America, as well as in South Africa.

To attend this lecture, please register at this link.  You will receive a confirmation email one day before the event containing information about joining the lecture.

All times stated in Eastern Time.