Santo Subito? Popes as “new saints” in the age of eleventh-century reform

Abstract

Although some popes already enjoyed saint-like veneration, papal sanctity significantly increased during the ecclesiastical reform in the eleventh century. After all, it was Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) – one of the main protagonists of the reform – who stated in his Dictatus papae that «The Bishop of Rome, if he has been ordained according to canon law, is undoubtedly made a saint through the merits of blessed Peter […]». These ideas draw attention to general strategies of representation, especially regarding the cult of Early Christian popes (such as Clement I). The increasing worship they enjoyed can be noticed not least in contemporary pictorial programmes. The paper deals with the propagation of early popes as “new saints” and seeks to identify the driving forces behind their dissemination.