Date: Monday, December 6
Time: 7 pm EST

This lecture will take place virtually, via Zoom. Ticket sales will end at 5 pm EST the day of the lecture. Attendees may request a video recording AFTER the lecture takes place by emailing proof of purchase to [email protected]. Video recordings are valid for 30 days after the date of the lecture.

Ticketholders: a link to the conference is sent out at 5:30 pm EST on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please add [email protected] to your contacts to ensure that the event link will not go to spam.

Body parts of saints were extremely valuable in medieval Europe. They were believed to have healing powers, and people traveled long distances to pray in their presence. Artists created elaborate, jewel-encrusted containers for these relics, some of which took the form of the body parts they were believed to contain. 

This illustrated lecture will introduce you to the theology behind the adoration of relics, their cultural and religious significance, and the ways in which people have interacted with them. You’ll be treated to dazzling images and ghoulish backstories of many medieval reliquaries, and learn about the diversity of their forms and contents.

Far from an extinct tradition, relic veneration is still an important part of Catholic cultures around the world today; we’ll look at how the faithful, as well as the general public, continue to call upon the special powers of these heavenly bodies.

Brenda Edgar is an Associate Professor in the Fine Art Department at Jefferson Community and Technical College in Louisville, KY, where she lives with her husband, two children, and four senior rescue dogs. She is also a poet whose work has most recently appeared in the literary journals The Shore and What are Birds?, and will be featured in the Fall 2021 issue of the Tusculum Review.

When she isn’t reading or writing, Brenda is a New York Times Crossword Puzzle addict, an avid yogi, and a performance driving enthusiast. 

In addition to relics, Brenda’s research interests include medieval medical manuscripts and depictions of disease in medieval art, as well as the historical role of altered states of consciousness in the creation of art.

Assoc. Prof. Edgar’s monthly public talk series, “Art and Beyond,” will enter its second season at its new home, the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany, Indiana, in September of this year.

Images, in order: Relic of the head fo St Catherine of Siena; Ste Foy Reliquary, 9–19th century, Church of Ste Foy, Conques, France; Portable Altar of St Andrew, 10th century, Trier Cathedral Treasury, Germany; The hair and fingernails of St Clare of Assisi, 13th century, at her basilica in Assisi, Italy