Translation Et Miracles Des Saints Marcellin Et Pierre

Saints remain active after their death through their relics, the remains of their bodies that provide a physical link between this world and the next. In Rome, the catacombs housed many relics and attracted pilgrims. When the center of gravity of the Christian West shifted northward under the Carolingians, the need arose to hold the relics necessary for the consecration of any new church. Einhard, known for his Life of Charlemagne, founded a church and religious community near Frankfurt in Seligenstadt, for which he brought from Rome in 827 the relics of two ancient Roman martyr saints, the deacon Marcellinus and the exorcist Peter. In the first two books of his Translation and Miracles of the Holy Martyrs Marcellinus and Peter, Einhard gives a gripping account of this expedition; It tells the story of the surreptitious removal of the relics to Rome and their improbable return journey, which sees some of them diverted to Soissons while the other reaches Seligenstadt via the Rhine and Main valleys. In this story, the relics are coveted, bought... or stolen. After being properly installed, the relics cause numerous and spectacular miracles, the subject of the last two books of the Translation . Einhard shows the effective power of the saints whom he has made himself the servant of by withdrawing to them in his community of Seligenstadt; his Translation is revealed here as his major work, a masterpiece of a Carolingian Renaissance at its peak.