30/06/2026 14:30 - 17:30

HALL: Parenzo - A19

Contact: Lauria V.

Chair: Brandodoro N.

Sacred performances in the Modern Age (1300-1600) show how religious practices contributed, in different and often ambivalent ways, to the construction and management of social (in)equalities. In Europe, sacred performances served both as a tool for mitigating marginalisation and as a device for producing and consolidating social roles and codes. The panel aims to analyze, but is not restricted to, confraternities' sacred representations; civic and liturgical spectacles promoted by urban and ecclesiastical authorities; penitential processions and charitable rituals; missionary and conversional performances; school and college theatre, notably within Jesuit educational contexts; courtly and dynastic religious ceremonies; and devotional practices structured around images, relics, and ritualised bodily performances. In these different settings, the performative dimension of the sacred operated as a means of mobilising communities, shaping identities and behaviors, fostering new theological approaches, and articulating social roles and hierarchies.
In this context, the performative dimension of the sacred played a dual role: on the one hand, it promoted practices of assistance, inclusion and cooperation, contributing to the mitigation of social marginalisation; on the other hand, it reproduced and consolidated hierarchical structures, social codes and prescriptive roles through the mediation of religious and educational institutions. The panel aims to bring together diverse perspectives and methodologies to understand how the performances of the sacred contributed, in complex and often ambivalent ways, to the removal and reproduction of (in)equalities in early modern Europe. The panel welcomes contributions from Christian studies, History, Literature, Philosophy, Art History, and Performing Arts.