Fra trionfi e sconfitte: la politica della santità dell’Ordine dei Predicatori, ed. by Viliam Štefan Dóci OP and Gianni Festa OP (Dissertationes Historicae 39), Roma: Angelicum University Press 2021, 554pp. ISBN: 978-88-99616-39-7. Price: € 60,-.

In its eight centuries of history, the Order of Preachers has developed a ‘politics of holiness’, giving substance to an original political design for the construction and promotion of its own sanctorale, which has effectively contributed to affirming its identity and charisma. The promotion of the cult and the activation of canonization processes have also served to safeguard the unity of a religious Order that has known a truly worldwide diffusion. However, there have been many processes that have been initiated but have not been successful, and not all the saints that have been preconized have reached the glory of the altars (“triumphs and defeats”). Why? And why did some become saints despite the indifference or ill-concealed hostility of the central authorities of the Order, and why did others not become saints despite the fact that the authorities had authorized the start of the process and strongly supported the canonical procedure? These are just a few of the questions that the contributions in this volume have attempted to answer.

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