Romanesque Saints and Reliquaries
In most cases, Christians would seek answers to their prayers from martyrs as an intervention between them and God. Martyrs are people who died for their faith in God; hence prayer through a saint was considered effective. The bodies of the saints or parts of their bodies and possession were stored in containers that were richly decorated. From our textbook, it is clear that reliquaries are any form of objects that hold vestiges.
For Christians, relics were those objects Christians believed in. They believed that relics had the power to heal, while others had some spiritual significance. This is because some of the original relics were believed to have been touched by Jesus Christ or the great apostles (Tuggle n.p). Due to their significance, reliquaries were made of gold and other stones. Yet, what made them stand out from each other were the decorations and designs, making them the most remarkable pieces of art in the middle ages.
Consequently, the relics and reliquaries were stored in churches and were arranged in passageways, crypts, and chapels for people to view them. The church later made a decision that each alter must contain a relic. As a result, the bodies and possessions of the saints were multiplies and subdivided so that each sanctuary would have a relic of every saint. Owning relics offered people a sense of wealth and prestige, and individuals would do anything to own them, even if it meant stealing the relics (Tuggle n.p). For instance, the monks of Conques stole “Sainte Foy” and referred to the act as “The Holy Robbery.” The monks argued that Sainte instructed them that she wanted to be moved, so they stole “Sainte Foy” and decorated her with gold, jewelry, and a crown.
Sainte Foy
Finally, the controversies emerged by the name “Iconoclastic Controversies,” which rejected the worship of images, and this is because the Old Testament through the Ten Commandments prohibits the worship of idols (Exodus 20:4). The common form of imagery is the “Christ Pantocrator,” which was designed in the 4th century.