Natacha Puglisi

Natacha’s research explores the formation of the cult of saints as a central element of the development of Christianity between Late Antiquity and the early Modern Period. Her project examines the progressive and paradoxical materialization of saints’ cults in the early times of the Church. In the fourth century, prominent Christian figures such as Ambrosius or Gregory of Nyssa, rejected the Jewish and Greco-Roman material practices and beliefs, and defined the new Christian religion as purely spiritual. Meanwhile, other ecclesiastical authorities, like Chrysostom, faced with the pragmatic challenges of the Christianization of society, enthusiastically promoted saints’ martyria, graves and relics, and sensory commemorative practices involving seeing, touching, even possessing the saints. Relying on homilies, theological treatises, and archaeological evidence, this project examines this parallel development of paradigms in the wider context of the early construction of Christianity. It questions how this paradox contributed to shape the identity of Christian religion.

Professional Biography

Natacha is Lecturer in Medieval History and a postgraduate researcher in Late Antique and Medieval History and in Byzantine History at King’s College London. Her research focuses on the evolution of holiness from Late Antiquity to the late Middle Ages, through the study of Christian liturgy, hagiographic literature, cultic practices, and patristic writings, with a particular emphasis on Eastern Christendom and the Byzantine Church. Her broader interests lie in the history of the formation of liturgical cycles, the circulation of commemorative practices, and the formation of the Church. These interests are attended by an interdisciplinary approach of late antique and medieval history that includes art history, archaeology, and codicology.