Agustín de Hipona y las celebraciones en torno a los mártires

Abstract

For centuries, Christians celebrated the cult of the martyrs through rituals that were to a certain extent similar to those traditionally performed for the dead. More specifically, these involved the so-called refrigerium, which was accompanied by collective celebrations. However, starting in the final decades of the 4th century, this practice was prohibited in several episcopal sees, which argued that it was contaminated by paganism. Yet interestingly enough, while the specific rituals were banned, the bishops encouraged the faithful to donate the money they would have spent on these celebrations to charitable causes which they themselves controlled and regulated to a great extent. We therefore consider that this ban on feasting next to the tombs of the martyrs cannot be understood unless it is associated with the bishops’ increasing interventionism, which not only affected the customs of the faithful, but also provided the dioceses with larger financial resources.