" In Her It Has Woven us a Garment that Shall Be for Our Salvation" Linen Relics for the Poor Clares of Salamanca

Abstract

In the enclosed spaces of the Poor Clares' convent of Salamanca, some singular pieces of liturgical garments were venerated for centuries as contact relics of St. Clare. According to the founding chronicles and local traditions, this pair of corporals was woven by the seraphic Mother in the cloisters of
Assisi, during an episode of her hagiography that gathers features of inventio, inventory and moral fable. These textiles provide an interesting perspective of outlining the functions given to medieval relics as constructors of memory, presence, and authority. Here are presented some notes about the materiality and textuality of the corporals from Salamanca, based on their symbolic condition as objects, stories, and images, given to them by their own contexts of female religiosity.