A Temporary Community of the Saints

Abstract

On almost all late medieval altarpieces, figures or portraits represent the saints to whom the altar was dedicated. As a rule, these saints were physically present in the stipes through their relics. But did this mean that they were also physically present as saints? Already in the ›Dialogus Miraculorum‹ of Caesarius of Heisterbach, the idea of a »real presence« breaks through in various places, according to which the saints intervened in the lives of those who venerated them – sometimes through the use of massive physical violence. Against the background of a concept that is not based on representation but on actual presence, this article examines the conditions under which the communities of saints were formed, their persistence and – not least – the possibilities for the faithful to influence the saints.