The martyr, the matrona and the bishop: the matron Lucina and the politics of martyr cult in fifth‐ and sixth‐century Rome

Abstract

The present study attempts to build on the achievement of Pietri and Llewellyn in assessing the peculiarities and limitations of the gesta martyrum as a source for late ancient and early medieval Rome, while shifting interpretative stress away from the lay—clerical binary which has dominated recent treatments of the cult of the saints, and toward an emphasis on factional conflict among lay—clerical coalitions. Central is an analysis of the literary motif, which recurs across the gesta of Lucina, the aristocratic matrona or widow who sees to the burial of the martyr on her own lands. Though the stereotypical figure of Lucina warns us of the limitations of the gesta as a source for the patronage activity of the lay aristocracy, it is argued, her appearance in crucial texts such as the Passio Sebastiani can nonetheless help us to trace the role which the memory of the martyrs played in texts such as the gesta martyrum,the Symmachan Forgeries, or the Liber Pontificalis,as well as the role which martyr shrines such as the Vatican basilica and the memoria apostolorumon the Via Appia played in the contestation and consolidation of Roman episcopal authority.