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IMMEDIATELY UPON RECEIPT |
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TIM MASSIE (845) 575-3171
DR. JOHN KNIGHT (845) 575-3000, EXT. 2052
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MARIST CATHOLIC STUDIES LECTURE TO LOOK AT MEDIEVAL MARTYRDOM
POUGHKEEPSIE -
Dr. Janine Larmon Peterson, assistant professor of history at Marist College, will speak on "The Changing Face of Martyrdom: Holy Heretics in Late Medieval Italy" on October 27 at 5 p.m. in the Performing Arts Room in the college's Student Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Peterson teaches medieval and early modern European history. In addition to edited volumes, her work has appeared in journals such as Traditio, Viator, and Past & Present. Peterson's research focuses on challenges to the authority of the institutional church, particularly with regard to heresy and saint's cults, in late medieval Italy. She serves on the Awards Committee of the Society for Italian Historical Scholarship.
Between late antiquity and the late Middle Ages martyrdom had almost disappeared within the borders of Western Europe. Beginning in the 11th Century, however, the growing battle against heresy in the Roman Catholic Church had the potential to swell the ranks of martyrs. Against the wishes and expectations of Rome, some communities, particularly in north-central Italy, chose sentenced heretics as the objects of their veneration, rather than murdered inquisitors. These "heretical martyrs" demonstrated the traditional qualities of martyrdom, physical fortitude, steadfastness of belief, moral virtues, and unjust persecution that allowed orthodox members of the local population, including clerics, to deem them worthy of veneration. Christian support for these "holy" heretics functioned as a vehicle for communities to express a rejection of inquisitorial authority and contest the papacy's claim of being the ultimate authority in determining sainthood.
For further information, contact Dr. John Knight, Catholic Studies coordinator at Marist, at (845) 575-3000, ext. 2052, or by email at john.knight@marist.edu.
For further information, call the Marist College Office of Public Affairs at (845) 575-3174.
