The Institute for Medieval Studies, in collaboration with the Center for Religious History Studies at the Portuguese Catholic University, is promoting an international colloquium around the theme “Sanctuaries, Relics and Pilgrimages”, taking place between the 16th and 18th of November. The event will have sessions and activities taking place at Colégio Almada Negreiros, at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, and at Palácio Real da Confraria de Nossa Senhora da Nazaré, namely:

  • November 16: Campolide Campus, Colégio Almada Negreiros, Lisbon | Auditorium 209 (2nd floor)
  • November 17th: UCP – Lisbon, Room 421 (2nd floor of the Library building)
  • November 18: Royal Palace of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Nazaré, Nazaré

Bringing together national and foreign experts, this colloquium aims to be a space for sharing and debate around fundamental dimensions of medieval spirituality, such as pilgrimages and the demand for sanctuaries and proximity to sacred bodies. Demanded by lay people and clergy, men, and women, young and less young, sanctuaries become places of power and memory, prolonged in the rites and gestures that express the veneration of the faithful or the search for the desired miracle, in the stories that keep the memory of his wonders, in the offerings left by the faithful or in the objects they bring as souvenirs and protection. A search considered here in the diversity of places, geographies, and chronologies, seeking to understand its scope and meaning in the context of the medieval West, even when its itineraries cover more distant destinations, such as the Holy Land, or closer ones, such as Compostela or even the sanctuaries of the Portuguese kingdom.

Participation is free but subject to registration, until November 14th, using the Registration Form.