Author: Stefania TutinoPublisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197578802
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209
Book Description
"This book 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 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, the book reveals 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 theology ignore the truth of history without ending up engulfed in falsity and deceit? This story of a fake saint illuminates early modern tensions. But the struggles to distinguish between facts, opinions, and beliefs remain with us. Examining how our predecessors dealt with the relationship between truth and authenticity guides us too in thinking through what is true and what is not"--
