Published in Pleasure in the Middle Ages

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The cult of relics did not exist in the first centuries of the Christian era, but only came into being in the fourth century. After the Peace of the Church and the Christianisation of the Roman Empire, it became a constitutive element of the new religion. However, a very small number of holy graves known to exist and could be pinpointed. This could explain why a series of ‘inventions’ or miraculous discoveries happened in this time – first of all in the Eastern provinces of the Empire –, that is to meet the needs of worship. But relics were not found at just any time or place. A careful examination of the different cases in their historical context gives us a better understanding of this phenomenon.