This international conference explores the means of constructing and reconstructing saints in and beyond the Iberian Peninsula with particular emphasis on:

• the import of new saints into the Iberian Peninsula from the Holy Land, neighbouring territories, occupied territories;
• the export of saints from the Iberian Peninsula to Europe, Latin America;
• the re/creation of saints in the Iberian Peninsula;

To attend the conference online, contact the organizer not later than 19 March 2025 at znorovszkyandrea@usal.es.

For more information: https://eventum.usal.es/go/ibersaints

Conference programme

Monday 24 March/Lunes 24 de marzo

Sala de Grados, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, calle Cervantes, s./n.

09:20-09:40 Registration

09:40-10:00 Welcome (Iñaki Martín Viso, Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky)

10:00-11:30 Session 1. The Virgin Mary Chair: Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky

• Maria do Carmo Raminhas Mendes, Universidade da Beira Interior, From Penha to Seixo: Medieval and Modern Marian Devotions in the Portuguese Beira Region
• Danai Thomaidis, Princeton University, Iconic Crossings: Unveiling Religious Imagery in Mediterranean and Atlantic Colonization
• Mario Lozano Alonso, Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso, A Failed Attempt to Create a Local Catholic Church in an Orthodox Country: The Importation of Catholic Iconographies, Saints and Marian Devotions in Ethiopia During the Jesuit Mission (1557-1632)

11:30 – 12:00 BREAK/DESCANSO

12:00 – 13:30 Session 2. Holy Queens and Princess(es) Chair: Isadora Martins Fontoura de Carvalho

• Giulia Rossi Vairo, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, the Holy Queen: from Ibersaint to Global Saint
• María López-Monís Yuste, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, “Vas admirabile, opus excelsi”: the Iconographies of St Elizabeth of Hungary in the Iberian Peninsula (13th-14th centuries)
• Kristin Hoefener, Center for the Study of the Sociology and Aesthetics of Music, Between Royal Duty and Religious Devotion: Princess Joana of Portugal and the Dominican Convent of Aveiro
• Sunghoon Lee, University of Wisconsin, Catarina de San Juan’s Portrait: Transpacific Journey and Visionary Experiences of an Enslaved Asian Woman in Seventeenth-Century Puebla

13:30 – 15:00 LUNCH BREAK/ALMUERZO

15:00 – 16:00 Session 3. Cross-dressed Saints Chair: Giulia Rossi Vairo

• Andrew M. Beresford, Durham University, The Legend of Saint Eugenia in Early Iberian Art and Literature
• Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky, Universidad de Salamanca, Visualizing Saint Marina the Monk in the Iberian Peninsula: Image, Relics, and Cult

16: 30 – 18: 30 Cultural visit: Salamanca -UNESCO World Heritage site

                          (N.B. visit schedule could be subject of change)

Tuesday 25 March/Martes 25 de marzo

Sala de Grados, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, calle Cervantes, s./n.

10:00-11:30 Session 4. Women Martyrs and Mystics Chair: María López-Monís Yuste

• Haruko Nawata Ward, Columbia Theological Seminary, Santa Anastasia between Ancient Rome and Early Modern Kirishitan Japan
• Sylvia Alvares-Correa, Christ Church College Oxford, Translating the Relics, Hagiography, and Imagery of St Auta
• Susan E. Matassa, University of Dallas, St. Teresa of Avila in Richard Crashaw’s “The Flaming Heart”: The Art of Reading Hagiography

11:30 – 12:00 BREAK/PAUSA

12:00 – 13:30 Session 5. Apostle(s), abbots, monks Chair: Kristin Hoefener

• Ildikó Csepregi, Universidade de Vigo, From Riches to Rags: The Curious Life and Miracles of San Rosendo
• Israel Sanmartín Barros, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, The Historiographic Circulation of the Traveller Saints to Paradise in Medieval Iberia
• Steffen Hope, Universitetet i Oslo, Santiago and the North – Transmission and Reception in the Twelfth-Century Nordic Sphere  

13:30 – 15:00 LUNCH BREAK/ALMUERZO

15:00-16:30 Session 6. Clerics, friars, monks Chair: Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky

• José Manuel Simões, Universidade de Évora, History, Synchronic Awareness and the Multifunctionality of ‘Vita Martini Sauriensis’
• Adrian Bremenkamp, Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut for Art History, The Early Image Cult and Delayed Sainthood of Raymond of Penyafort
• Carlos Tejerizo García, Universidad de Salamanca, Gonzalo J. Escudero Manzano, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, “It is very true he has come from Saint Martin of Castañeda”. A Transdisciplinary Analysis about the Creation of Saint Giles of Casayo Myth (13th-17th Centuries)

17:00-18:00 Museo de Salamanca, Patio de Escuelas, 7

Poster Presentations. Chair: Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky

• Isadora Martins Fontoura de Carvalho, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Topografía transferida y reimaginada. La sacralización de la naturaleza en el culto de las mujeres mártires en Galicia
• Kyle Lincoln, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Los santos y sus sucesores en Castilla a finales del siglo XII. Tres casos de estudio de santos putativos y sus sucesores pragmáticos (c. 1180 – 1210)
• Tomás Bado Michel, Universidad de Salamanca, La santidad de los obispos en la Península Ibérica: ¿por qué era necesario el poder para alcanzar la gloria?
• Emma Ferrari, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, San Isidro Labrador en la Milán del siglo XVII. Reflexiones sobre Cerano y su taller
• Azucena Francina María Donkervoort, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, La reconstrucción del rey santo medieval Fernando III en la novela histórica y la prensa del siglo XIX español

18:00  Cultural visit: Museo de Salamanca, Salamanca

Wednesday 26 March/Miércoles 26 de marzo

Sala de Grados, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, calle Cervantes, s./n.

• 10:30-11:30 Session 7. Apostles, Martyrs, and Rural Saints Chair: Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky
• Rose Walker, Courtauld Institute of Art, Canonising the Early Friendship Circle
• Kati Ihnat, Radbound Universiteit, Why Martyrs? The Prevalence of Martyred Saints in the Early Medieval Iberian Canon
• Ricardo Fernández González, Stockholms Universitet, Saints and Blood: Saint Isidro, Saint María de la Cabeza and the Dismissal of Madrid’s Islamic Past

11:30-12:00   BREAK/PAUSA

12:00 – 13:30 BOOK PRESENTATION /Presentación

Book: Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky (ed.) Representations of Saint Anne and the Virgin Mary from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period. Exploring Iconographic Flexibility and Permeability. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2025.

In-presence: Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky, Universidad de Salamanca

Online: Nina Chichinadze, Ilia State University

             Mihnea Alexandru Mihail, Universitatea Naţională de Arte Bucureşti

             Elliott D. Wise, Brigham Young University

             Fiammetta Campagnoli, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

             Stefanie Paulmichl, Università di Trento

             Letícia Martins de Andrade, Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei 

             Rosie Bonté, Brepols Publishers 

13:30 – 13:45 CLOSING REMARKS / Conclusiones

14:00 – 14:30  Cultural visit: Biblioteca General Histórica, Universidad de Salamanca

14:30  LUNCH/Almuerzo