A Fake Saint and the True Church

The Story of a Forgery in Seventeenth-Century Naples

Stefania Tutino (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

208 Seiten

2021
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-757880-3 (ISBN)

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A Fake Saint and the True Church uncovers the remarkable story of a fake saint to tell a tale about truth. It begins at the end of the 1650s, when a large quantity of forged documents suddenly appeared throughout the Kingdom of Naples. Narrating the life and deeds of a previously unknown medieval saint named Giovanni Calà, the trove generated much excitement around the kingdom. No one was more delighted by the news than Carlo Calà, Giovanni's wealthy and politically influential seventeenth-century descendant. Attracted by the prospect of adding a saint to the family tree, Carlo presented Giovanni's case to the Roman Curia. The Catholic authorities, however, immediately realized that the sources were forged, and that Giovanni was not real (let alone holy). Yet, it took more than two decades before the forgery was exposed: why?

Vividly reconstructing the intricate case of the supposed saint, Stefania Tutino explores the tensions between historical and theological truth. How much could the truth of doctrine depend on the truth of the facts before religion lost its connection with the supernatural? To what extent could the truth of doctrine ignore the truth of the facts without ending up engulfed in falsity and deceit? How could the absolute truth of theology relate to the far less absolute certainty of human affairs?

This story of a fake saint illuminates early modern tensions. But the struggles to distinguish between facts, opinions, and beliefs remain with us. Examining, as this book does, how our predecessors dealt with the relationship between truth and authenticity guides us too in thinking through what is true and what is not.

Stefania Tutino is a Professor of History at UCLA. She is the author of numerous award-winning books and essays on early modern Catholicism.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Making of a Success Story
Chapter 2: A Wonderful Find
Chapter 3: An Unexpected Ally
Chapter 4: A Controversial Partner
Chapter 5: The Fraud is Uncovered
Chapter 6: The Roman Curia Takes Over
Chapter 7: The Curia at an Impasse
Chapter 8: The End of the Story
Conclusion
List of Abbreviations
Bibliographical Notes

Erscheinungsdatum	06.09.2021
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	216 x 150 mm
Gewicht	363 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Archäologie
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Religionsgeschichte
	Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Kirchengeschichte
ISBN-10	0-19-757880-2 / 0197578802
ISBN-13	978-0-19-757880-3 / 9780197578803
Zustand	Neuware