A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
The materiality of Turku Cathedral's spiritual treasury: indulgence
Authors: Välimäki Reima, Salonen Kirsi
Publication year: 2022
Journal: Material Religion
Volume: 18
Issue: 5
First page : 532
Last page: 547
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17432200.2022.2132071
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1080/17432200.2022.2132071
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/177028242
The article discusses indulgences as an instrument that provided the spiritual treasury of the Church with a material manifestation. We propose that indulgences reflected the Divine within the material world in four different ways: 1) by promoting particular locations as sources of divine grace; 2) by promoting the cult of saints and their relics; 3) by generating donations for the construction and renovation of churches, and 4) by being in themselves – as indulgence letters and their copies preserved in chartularies – material evidence of the Church’s spiritual treasury. Therefore, indulgences must be taken into account in scholarly discussion of Christian materiality. We explore the four material aspects of indulgences through the evidence from Turku Cathedral from the mid-thirteenth century to the end of the fifteenth century.
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