The Cult of the Saints in Recent Historiographies of Central Europe

The Cult of the Saints in Recent Historiographies of Central Europe
This article presents recent research on the cult of the saints in three dimensions. First it examines, how the political climate of the post-Communist decades, and the millennial commemorations brought unexpectedly the cult of medieval “national” saints into the center of public attention, state financing and political debates in Central Europe. Second, I provide an overview of the doubtless scholarly benefit from the state investments to these anniversaries, and review the scholarly results of these new publications. Finally, I introduce those new academic institutions – universities, research centers, specialized associations, projects – which have been supporting these new research ventures on saints and their hagiographies.