Author : Agostino Paravicini-Bagliani
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226034379
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (343 download)
Book Synopsis The Pope's Body by : Agostino Paravicini-Bagliani
Download or read book The Pope's Body written by Agostino Paravicini-Bagliani and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2000-07 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In contrast to the role traditionally fulfilled by secular rulers, the pope has been perceived as an individual person existing in a body subject to decay and death, yet at the same time a corporeal representation of Christ and the Church, eternity and salvation. Using an array of evidence from the eleventh through the fifteenth centuries, Agostino Paravicini- Bagliani addresses this paradox. He studies the rituals, metaphors, and images of the pope's body as they developed over time and shows how they resulted in the expectation that the pope's body be simultaneously physical and metaphorical. Also included is a particular emphasis on the thirteenth century when, during the pontificate of Boniface VIII (1294-1303), the papal court became the focus of medicine and the natural sciences as physicians devised ways to protect the pope's health and prolong his life. Masterfully translated from the Italian, this engaging history of the pope's body provides a new perspective for readers to understand the papacy, both historically and in our own time.
