Religious Medals

Polish literature on the subject of religious medallions is poor if we do not take into account quite a number of archaeological publications and entries on online forums, and foreign publications, in Polish libraries are almost inaccessible.

The word "medallion" (in polish) in the first place, as the diminution of the word "medal", indicates its magnitude. The medallion is simply a small medal whose round form, which can be considered as a basic one, has changed over time.

Medallions were made of various metals and their alloys. In collections we usually find specimens made of bronze or copper alloys, and rarely of lead, tin or iron. Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of ancient religious medallions were not beaten but cast.

Today religious medallions are most often worn on the neck, in hiding, originally on strings and ribbons, and now mostly on chains. For this reason, the overwhelming majority of religious medallions are equipped with ear tags. However, the medals were also used in a completely transparent way. Even a few can be attached to rosaries and other types of laces. In folk attire they were attached individually or several pieces to the strings of corals or they could eventually be sewn or pinned to the garment. In this way they were given the obvious function of the jewelry, which medallions in hiding today are sometimes unnecessarily recited.

Consequently, for this type of monument, the following definition can be proposed: the medallion is a small medal, usually round or oval, but also in other shapes, casted of metal, and in later periods, also beaten or stamped, decorated on two sides, and less often unilaterally, bearing content religious, political, patriotic, propaganda, but also mixed, such as patriotic-religious or religious-devotional (performances and inscriptions, and less often the same representations or inscriptions), intended for personal use in a manner similar to jewelry.

In den Jahren 1996 und 2000/2001 fanden im Wiener Stephansdom baubegleitende Grabungen statt, in deren Rahmen unter anderem ein ausgedehnter frühneuzeitlicher, beigabenführender und in den Jahren 1783/1784 endender Bestattungshorizont freigelegt wurde. Im Kontext dieser Gräber kamen 57 religiöse Medaillen und Anhänger sowie eine kleine Gagatfigur mit Darstellung des in Santiago de Compostela verehrten hl. Jakobus zum Vorschein, die zusammen im Rahmen des Artikels vorgestellt werden.
Religiöse Medaillen und Anhänger traten in den letzten Jahren in Zusammenhang mit der Freilegung frühneuzeitlicher Friedhöfe vermehrt ins Blickfeld der Archäologie, insgesamt ist die Erforschung dieser Objektgruppe aber noch wenig weit gediehen, sodass die Vorlage einen Beitrag zur Hebung des Kenntnisstandes leisten möchte. Als Medien frühneuzeitlicher Glaubensinhalte und Frömmigkeitspraktiken sind sie eng mit dem Wallfahrtswesen und der Heiligenverehrung verbunden und lassen damit beispielsweise Rückschlüsse auf Einzugsgebiete von Wallfahrtsorten zu oder zeigen allgemein religiöse Orientierungen der Bevölkerung einer Region an. Darüber hinaus bedienten sich kirchliche Institutionen und religiöse Vereinigungen, wie Orden und Bruderschaften, zum Zwecke der Eigenwerbung oder als Abzeichen dieser Kleindevotionalien.
Nach allgemeinen Erläuterungen zu den historischen und frömmigkeitsgeschichtlichen Rahmenbedingungen im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert und einem kurzen Abriss zu (Forschungs-)Geschichte und Aussagepotenzial religiöser Medaillen wird der Fundkomplex vorgestellt. Am Beginn steht die Darlegung der Befundzusammenhänge, der verwendeten Materialien, der Herstellungstechniken und der Datierungsmöglichkeiten, im Anschluss werden die auf Grundlage der Fundobjekte fassbaren Wallfahrtsorte und personalen Verehrungsziele (Jesus, Maria, Heilige etc.) vorgestellt. Ein erster Vergleich zwischen den im Wiener Stephansdom nachweisbaren Pilgerdestinationen und einem Sample religiöser Medaillen und Devotionalien mit Wallfahrtsbezug aus dem ehemaligen Stadtfriedhof in St. Pölten (Grabungen Domplatz) zeigt Übereinstimmungen und Unterschiede auf. Den Schluss der Fundvorlage bilden zwei Objekte, die mit Institutionen in Verbindung stehen, so eine dem Piaristenorden zuordenbare Medaille sowie ein Abzeichen einer beim Schottenkloster angesiedelten Bruderschaft des 18. Jahrhunderts.

In 1996 and 2000/2001, excavations took place in accompaniment of construction work at Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral, during which, among other things, an extensive early modern burial horizon containing grave goods and ending in the years 1783/1784 was uncovered. Associated with these graves were 57 religious medals and pendants as well as a small jet figurine depicting St. James, venerated in Santiago de Compostela, which are presented together in this article.
Religious medals and pendants have increasingly come to the attention of archaeologists in recent years in connection with the uncovering of early modern cemeteries, but overall research on this group of objects has not yet progressed very far. This presentation aims to expand our present knowledge. As media of early modern beliefs and piety practices, the objects are closely connected with pilgrimage and the veneration of saints and thus allow conclusions to be drawn about the catchment areas of places of pilgrimage, for example, or point to the general religious orientation of a regional population. In addition, ecclesiastical institutions and religious associations, such as orders and confraternities, used these small devotional objects for self-promotion or as badges.
The finds complex is introduced following an examination of the historical and piety-historical framework conditions in the 17th and 18th centuries and a brief outline of the (research) history and interpretative potential of religious medals. It begins with a description of the finds context, the materials used, the production techniques and the dating possibilities, followed by a presentation of the places of pilgrimage and personal targets of veneration (Jesus, Mary, saints, etc.) identified on the basis of the finds. A preliminary comparison between the pilgrimage destinations represented in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna and a sample of religious medals and devotional objects with pilgrimage references from the former city cemetery in St. Pölten (Domplatz excavations) shows both similarities and differences. Two objects connected with institutions, a medal belonging to the Piarist Order and a badge of an 18th century confraternity based at the Schottenkloster (Scots Monastery), conclude the finds.

An examination of Jacques Wiener's masterful 1847 medal commemorating the 1846 Fête-Dieu in Liege, Belgium. The article highlights the history behind the feast, examines the medallic elements and notes a number of yet-unanswered questions regarding the medal.

In 2018 Bob Forrest donated his extensive collection of religious medals to the Ashmolean Museum's Heberden Coin Room. The collection, consisting of roughly 3500 objects, is particularly strong in its holdings of medals from nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe, but ranges chronologically from the fourteenth century to the present day and includes material from Africa, the Americas and Asia. While Christian medals comprise the majority of the collection, there are also examples of Jewish, Islamic and Buddhist objects as well. Ranging widely in both form and function, these medals are a fascinating testament to the importance of materiality in everyday devotional practice.

U radu se govori o svetačkim medaljicama pronađenim 2007. i 2008. godine tijekom izvođenja zaštitnih arheoloških istraživanja stare crkve sv. Jurja u Kruševu kod Obrovca.
The paper discusses saint medals found in 2007 and 2008 during the rescue archaeological excavations of the old church of St. George in Kruševo, near Obrovac.

Tríptico de una exposición sobre la antigua fábrica de medalles Ausió de Barcelona, activa entre c.1900-1970 con medalles, documentos, instrumentos del proceso de fabricación y fotografías hoy conservadas en el Gabinet Numismàtic de Catalunya (MNAC) gracias a la donación de sus antigues propietarios..

Article deals with the history of the collection of the plaster casts of the “papal medals” from the Semyonovskoye-Otrada estate of the Orlov noble family
In Russian

Электронное издание: http://e-books.arts-museum.ru/2022-science-report2020_new/37/

HEILIGER JOSEF AUF MEDAILLEN
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Anlässlich der im Jahre 2012 dem st. Josef gewidmeten Tagung in Zagreb wurden auch Bilder der Heiligen- und Wallfahrtsmedaillen, auf welchen sich sein Bild befindet, aus der Münzsammlung des Archäologischen Museum zu Zagreb, gezeigt. Sehr selten befinden sich solche Medaillen in einem guten Zustand: entweder sind sie als archäologische Funde aus Gräbern stark korrodiert, oder sie sind abgenützt, da sie viele Jahre hindurch auf Rosenkränzen gehangen haben. Die ältesten, normalerweise oval und aus dünnen Bronzeblech geprägt, stammen noch aus dem 17. Jh. und aus der Salzburger Werkstatt des Peter Seel (tätig ungefähr zwischen 1632 und 1665) und seines Sohnes Paul Seel (c. 1660 -+1696). Im 18. Jh. werden Wallfahrtsmedaillen dicker, meistens gegossen, aber erst seit 1870. als der hl. Josef zum Schutzheiligen der universalen Kirche von dem Papst Pius IV. proklamiert wurde, hat sich sein Kult stark verbreitet. Zu dieser Zeit hat sich auch seine Ikonografie verändert: er wird nämlich als betagter Mann, der Jesus als Kind in den Armen trägt, gezeigt.
Die Grundlagen zur Systematisierung der Heiligen- und Wallfahrtsmedaillen wurden vom Benediktinerpater Leo Ferdinand Kuncze (*Pressburg, 15.V.1840 – +Pannonhalma, 24.I.1886) in seinem bekannten Buch gelegt, wo auch die Medaillen mit dem hl. Josef in etlichen Kombinationen zu finden sind. Bei seinem Studium hat er sich auch mit der numismatischen Sammlung des berühmten kroatische Archäologen, Franziskanerpater Matthias Petrus Katancsich (Katančić) bedient. In der neueren Zeit wurde 1982 die bedeutende Sammlung des Dr. Busso Peus in Frankfurt am Main zur Vesteigerung gebracht. Auch in dieser Sammlung befanden sich Medaillen mit dem Bild des hl. Josef, alle aus dem deutschprachigen Gebiet. Weiterhin sollten Werke von Darko Knez, Floriano Grimaldi und besonders das grundlegende Werk Rodolfo Martinis genannt werden, sowie die Dissertation der Ana Azinović-Bebek.

Medalje blaženoga pape Pavla VI. iz zbirke kardinala Franje Šepera u Riznici Zagrebačke prvostolnice. Zusammenfassung: Die Medaillen des seligen Papstes Pauls VI. aus der Sammlung des Kardinals Franjo Šeper in der Schatzkammer des Doms zu Zagreb. Tkalčić (Zagreb), 19/2015: 455-479.
(*co-authored with Antun Ivandija and Lina Slavica Plukavec).
Der Katalog enthält die Beschreibungen der Medaillen des seligen Papstes Pauls VI.  aus dem Nachlass des Weiland Kardinals Franjo Šeper (*Osijek, 2. X.1905 -+ Rom, 30. XII. 1981), Erzbischofs von Zagreb (Agram), sowie andere Exemplare, die er während seines langen Aufenthaltes in Rom regelmäßig der reichen Schatzkammer des Zagreber Doms, bzw. Dr. Kamilo Dočkal und später Dr. Antun. Ivandija schenkte. Folgenderweise spiegelte sich dies auch in der Existenz von einigen Exemplaren derselben Medaille, enweder in demselben, oder anderem Metall, so dass man diese Medaillen, falls man sie ausstellen möchte, in zwei Exemplaren sehr leicht auf beiden Seiten zeigen könnte. Diese Sammlung von mehr als fünfzig, während des Pontifikates dieses großen Papstes, eines besonderen Kunstfreundes und =Kenners der schönen Künste geprägten (oder gegossenen) Medaillen, zeugen einige von den wichtigsten Ereignissen in der Katholischen Kirche dieser Jahre im Metall. Das waren z. B. die Fortsetzung und Schluß des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzills, verschiedene Selig= und Heiligsprechungen, die Reisen des Heiligen Vaters in das Helige Land, Nord und Südamerika, Afrika, Indien usw. Manche von den Medaillen sind undatiert, so muß man sie in die ganze Zeit des Pontifikates Pauls VI. (1963-1978) datieren. Wir müßen jedoch bedenken, dass während dieses Pontifikates eine viel größere Anzahl von Medaillen geprägt worden ist, als man sie in der Sammlung des Kardinals Šeper sieht. Sieben Medaillen des Pauls VI. befinden sich in der Sammlung des weiland Zagreber Weihbischofs Dr. Đuro Kokša,  und weitere drei werden in der Numismatischen Sammlung des Archäologischen Museums in Zagreb aufbewahrt, zusammen mit einigen Pilgermedaillen und =Abzeichen mit seinem Portrait. Es ist wichtig zu betonen, dass der Papst Paul VI. von dem bedeutenden kroatischen Bildhauer und Medailleur Želimir Janeš auf einer Medaille abgebildet worden ist, und diese Portraitmedaille kam in diese Sammlung im Rahmen der wesentlichen Schenkung der Anica Kopač,  als sie die vollständige numismatische Sammlung ihres Schwiegervaters Viktor Kopač und ihres Gemahls Berislav Kopač der Numismatischen Abteilung des Archäologischen Museums in Zagreb schenkte. Zwei weitere Medaillen aus derselben Sammlung sind Arbeiten des Costantino Affer und zeigen parallele, links orientierte Bildnisse der beiden Konzilpäpste Johannes XXIII und Paul VI.
Die Autoren der beschriebenen Medaillen waren größtenteils die besten Meister Ihres Faches dieser Zeit, es gibt jedoch auch einige unsignierte Medaillen, auch einige, deren Medailleure nicht unter die besten eingereiht werden können. Auch unser Wissen über einige von den in den anwesenden Medaillen vertretenen Medailleure ist manchmal reicher, manchmal jedoch unvollständig. Meistenteils waren dies sehr bekannte Bildhauer, die die Medaillen ab und zu modellierten. Einige waren im Grund genommen wahre Medailleure. Nennen wir alle in der Medaillensammlung des Kardinals Šeper mit dem Porträt Pauls VI vertretene Künstler in alfabetischer Reihe: Costantino Affer (*Mailand, 1906 +1987), Antonio Berti (*1904 +1991), Floriano Bodini (*Gemonio, Varese, 18.I.1933 +Mailand, 2.VII.2005), Ettore Calvelli (*Treviso, 1915 +Ponte di Legno, 5.I.1997), Venanzo Crocetti (*Giulianova, 4.VIII.1914 +Rom, 3.II.2003), Agenore Fabbri (*Barba, Pistoia, 20. V.1911 +Savona, 7.XI.1998), Pericle Fazzini (*Grottammare, Ascoli Piceno, 1913 +Rom 1987), Oscar Gallo, Pietro Giampaoli (*Urbignaco di Buja, 13.II.1898 +Rom, 27.II.1998), France Gorše (*Zamostec, 26.IV.1897 +Golnik, 2.VIII.1986), Emilio Greco (*Catania, 11.X.1913 +Roma, 5.IV.1995), Enrico Manfrini (*Lugo di Romagna, Forlì, 27.III.1917 +Mailand, 16.V.2004), Giacomo Manzú (=Manzoni; *Bergamo, 22.XII.1908 +Ardea, Rom, 17.I.1991), Francesco Messina (*Linguaglossa, Catania, 15.XII.1900 +Mailand, 15.IX.1995), Luciano Minguzzi (*Bologna, 24.V.1911 +Mailand, 30.V.2004), Guerrino Mattia Monassi (*Urbignacco di Buja, 1918 – +Bergamo, 1981), Giuseppe Pirrone (*Borgetto, Padova, 5.XI.1898 +Rom, 23.II.1978), Romano Rui (*Sarone di Caneva, Friuli +Mailand, 23.VIII.1977), Lello Scorzelli (*Neapel, 1921 +Rom, 1991), Emilio Senesi (+Mailand, 1976), sowie ihre Graveure, und ein Meister mit den Initialen WK. Wie man aus dem Verzeichnis sieht, waren alle Künstler Italiener, nur einer unter ihnen war der bedeutende slowenische Künstler France Gorše, jedoch diese kleine Medaille wurde von slowenischen Katholiken bestellt. Ein anderer Medailleur war der Grieche E. Kelades. Es ist interessant, dass fast alle Medaillen in Mailand geprägt worden sind, von der bekannten Prägeanstalt Emilio Senesi (Stabilimento E. Senesi), andere von der viel älteren, leider vor einigen Jahren geschloßenen Prägeanstalt Johnson (Stabilimento Johnson). Ein kleinerer Teil wurde in Roma, in der päpstlichen Präge geprägt. Wo die gegossenen Medaillen entstanden sind, kann man vorläufig nicht sagen.
Und schliesslich darf man nicht vergessen, dass auch Kardinal Franjo Šeper auf einigen Medaillen verewigt worden ist. Erwähnen wir die einseitige Medaille aus der Hand des Meisters Velibor Mačukatin aus dem Jahre 1965,  aber da sind auch z.B. die zwei erstklassigen, im Jahre 1958 geprägten Medaillen: die eine von Teodor Krivak, eines der besten kroatischen Graveure seiner Zeit, sowie die andere aus der Ausgabe des Zlatko Tudjina aus München , des Gründers und Schenkers des Numismatischen Museums in Pregrada (Zagorje, Kroatien).

Altamura F., Pancotti A., 2014. Medaglie devozionali in contesti di butto dai Colli Albani - Roma, Italia (XVII-XIX sec.), in INCC 2013, Proceedings of the 7th International Numismatic Congress of Croatia, Opatija, Croatia, September 27-28, 2013, Fiume, pp. 10-24. ISBN 978-953-55228-1-2

Book Review and Commentary: The Reformation Coin and Medal Collection of Concordia Historical Institute by Daniel Harmelink (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2016)

Reformation coins and medals served as a visual witness and confession of faith.

Collver, Albert B. “Book Review and Commentary: The Reformation Coin and Medal Collection of Concordia Historical Institute.” Journal of Lutheran Mission 3, no. 1 (April 2016): 55–56.

Il Giubileo Straordinario della Misericordia ha restaurato una delle più antiche tradizioni, andata in disuso da decenni: la produzione e distribuzione di Agnus Dei di cera.
Gli Agnus Dei sono delle medaglie devozionali di cera che ricevevano la benedizione del pontefice e venivano emesse prevalentemente nel primo anno di pontificato, nel settimo e negli anni giubilari. Venivano donate come onorificenze in particolari occasioni liturgiche ed essendo prodotte con le cere delle candele pasquali e il crisma, e ricevendo la benedizione pontificia, avevano un valore sacramentale e veniva ad esse conferito un significato apotropaico. Si riteneva che questi oggetti, come altre reliquie, proteggessero contro ogni sorta di malanno, aiutassero le partorienti, proteggessero dall'acqua e dal fuoco. La loro produzione è conosciuta sicuramente sin dall'alto medioevo e il loro nome, Agnus Dei, deriva dall'effige dell'agnello mistico, simbolo del Cristo, raffigurato su una delle facce della medaglia.
Sull'altra faccia della medaglia sono riportate le più varie rappresentazioni iconografiche: santi, beati, la Vergine Maria, Gesù, rappresentazioni delle sacre scritture ecc...
I Musei Vaticani conservano una settantina di antichi Agnus Dei di cera e più di seicento loro "forme", realizzate dagli stessi Maestri zecchieri autori delle medaglie pontificie di metallo. Le matrici venivano molto frequentemente riutilizzate dai pontefici che si susseguivano e venivano modificate per sostituire le precedenti intestazioni.
Il lavoro intende offrire un primo studio e una sommaria descrizione dei rovesci delle inedite matrici vaticane.

CRUCIFIXES FOUND UNDERNEATH THE DUBROVNIK CATHEDRAL
The numerous numismatic items found during the excavations underneath the Dubrovnik Cathedral and “Pujiška pijaca” led by Josip Stošić in the 1980s included around 60 saints and pilgrimage medals and small crosses from the 16th and 17th centuries. The article analyzes the crosses – grave goods from Graves 21 and 22.
Commemorating the premature death of our dear, longtime friend and distinguished colleague Zdenko Brusić, we are using the opportunity to publish several beautiful crosses found during the excavations underneath the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dubrovnik, popularly known as Our Great Lady's Cathedral. Not for a long time have we seen in any pilgrimage center in Croatia and Europe crosses and saints and pilgrimage medallions even remotely as beautiful as these. Although the present-day demand for such devotional objects is by no means lesser than a few centuries ago, the production of medals and crosses has been reduced to the deplorable plastic or aluminum articles. Even the most productive mint for such items – Stabilimento Johnson in Milan – has been closed down. The only solid, strock medals that can be bought everywhere are the ones with the inscription Crux sancti patris Benedicti, which, of course, no one can read or interpret unless they come with an explanatory label. After all, who understands Latin today?
Way back in 1984, the Numismatic Department of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb received anof the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb received an invitation from our colleague Josip Stošić, leader of archaeological excavations in Dubrovnik who, sadly, also deceased, to cooperate on the classification of the entire numismatic material. The first specimens of the coins excavated (45 of them) were delivered on 4 June 1984. Another 607 specimens were added on 6 July and five more on 10 October of the same year. On 10 August 1985, J. Stošić brought additional 44 specimens. Together with the final 17 pieces delivered on 4 November 1985, the total number of numismatic objects grew up to 718. The 107 coins from all the periods from ancient Greece to the 17th century (59 individual finds and two smaller hoards of Dubrovnik coins from the 15th and 17th centuries found in Grave 21) – handed over to J. Stošić on 18 September 1984 and then shown at the exhibition on the Dubrovnik excavations – were returned the same day. At the encouragement of Josip Stošić, the Department of Art History of the Center for Historical Sciences (represented by its secretary Đurđa Kovačić) and Ivan Mirnik signed on 13 March 1987 the contract on expert analysis of the coins found on the Dubrovnik Cathedral and Bunić poljana sites. Over a number of years, this interesting numismatic material was gradually classified despite its very poor, worn out and corroded condition. Of course, the budget-conscious people of Dubrovnik would not waste money that was in circulation at the time, unless they dropped it and could not find it any more; they would rather throw away worthless, worn out, corroded coins or some contemporary forgeries. The numismatic material was first washed and exposed to preliminary mechanical cleaning so that something could be made out from it. After a lengthy, rather arduous work on identification of every single specimen that ensued, the task was completed. While carrying out the excavations underneath the present-day Dubrovnik cathedral, archaeologists put every single numismatic find into a separate little paper bag, writing down the date, exact place and depth of the find. Some specimens of medals, crosses and coins were found in tombs. In the beginning, lists of identified coins would be typed on a typewriter, chronologically, as they would be discovered. Later, the lists – cut individually for each identified specimen – were manually arranged and glued by periods and countries and, within these categories, chronologically. As a result, new lists were composed, more suitable forpublishing. Afterwards, a quarter of a century ago, when the Numismatic Department of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb bought the license for the Numiz computer program developed by the Numismatic Cabinet of the National Museum of Slovenia, the whole job had to be done all over again. All the specimens were thus described again and fed into Numiz program – the best tool for classification and publishing of coins and medals – not a minor task.
Some of the coins have already been published – for example, the coins very important for the site, such as the Byzantine money. Later, something was written about the ancient coins – yet another strong piece of evidence of the long continuity of human presence in the Ragusa area.Headed by Damir Doračić, the laboratory of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb has recently carried out the cleaning and conservation of the least legible coins, saints and pilgrimage medals and crosses. Due to their poor condition and thick incrustation, the latter devotional objects could not be touched until now. The major problem with this metal was the fact that it had been exposed to abundant underground waters rich with salt due to vicinity of the sea – the conditions favorable to corrosion. While the coins were mostly found in the grave fills, the crosses and medals were found around the necks of the deceased or on their rosaries, having been intentionally placed in the graves.
Unfortunately, numismatics has neglected crosses and saint medals to a rather large extent – not only in Croatia. In our country, Ana Azinović Bebek has recently meticulously analyzed not just saint and pilgrimage medals, but also crosses and rosaries. Even earlier, after the excavations carried out on several sites, she published the saints medals found in graves from several sites.6 Some other Croatian authors have also found similar material during excavations or have analyzed the material from museumcollections. The complete bibliography can be found in the said dissertation of A. Azinović Bebek. Fortunately, this valuable dissertation was published in the most up-to-date format: as a PDF document on the bonus disk9 enclosed to the catalogue of the exhibition entitled Sacred Places of Old Zagreb People held in the Zagreb City Museum in 2015.
The best known among the earlier authors who dedicated their attention to crosslets was Leo Ferdinand Kuncze, a Benedictine monk. He classified them into 21 sets: Cruces in genere/Kreuze und Kreuzmedaillen, and subsets: A. Kreuze an Medaillen (Crosses on Medals, like the ones found in the Dubrovnik material); I. Invocationes SS. Crucis, II. Signa crucis, III. Pendants-Kreuz-Medaillen, IV. Missionsmedaillen are also here. Next category includes: B. Kreuze als Medaillen (Crosses as Medals; 11 variants). The 22nd set includes Cruces de Sanctis vocatae/ Nach Heiligen benannte Kreuze (Crosses Named after Saints).12 In B category, Kuncze describes crosses with angel heads (leaves, small roses) at their ends13 and those with the Veil of Veronica and Instruments of the Passion of Christ14 like the ones found among the described Dubrovnik specimens. Besides A. Azinović Bebek, who tackled the crosses in her dissertation, D. Knez also wrote about the crosses16 after he had published the saints medals from the collections of the National Museum of Slovenia.
Unlike the crosses, some of the medallions have the year of manufacture inscribed on them but all of them should be dated to the period before the disastrous earthquake that shook Dubrovnik on 6 April 1667, changing not just the urban scenery of the town but also its future. Just like the medals, the crosses also probably come from Italy. We classified them by types. Four of them are almost identical but are of different sizes. Two of them are different. As our colleague Rodolfo Martini from Milan has kindly informed us, these four crosses are of the so-called “Spanish type”, created in the late 16th century. In the early 17th-centurySpain, it was customary to put the Mother of Godon the empty back side of such crosslets. The customn soon spread throughout the Catholic Europe, particularly in Italy, from where the Dubrovnik specimens (which are of the top quality) probably come from.
The cross pendants described here are evidence to the highly developed taste of the Dubrovnik noblemen and their wives from past centuries. On the basis of both the crosses and the saint medallions we can tell which Italian shrines were the destinations of their pilgrimage and from where would they bring home beautiful devotional objects for themselves and their families.

Exhibition catalogue, edited by Claudio Cerretelli, with contributions by Laura Ciampini, Paola Cordera, Filippo Gheri, Stefano Manavella, Valerio Mosso, Anna Pedrotti, Christine Seidel.

La mostra, a cura di Claudio Cerretelli, presenta opere (sculture in legno e in avorio, oreficerie, reliquiari, medaglie, smalti, paramenti ricamati, dipinti) di area francese, spagnola e tedesca, spazianti dal Duecento al Seicento.
Introduzione di Claudio Cerretelli, schede di Laura Ciampini, Paola Cordera, Filippo Gheri, Stefano Manavella, Valerio Mosso, Anna Pedrotti, Christine Seidel. Traduzioni di Francesca Bongiorno, Laura Ciampini, Katrin Junge, Stefano Manavella, Anna Pedrotti, Francesca Rosa, Urlike Schön, Christine Seidel.

Schede di Stefano Manavella:
- scheda n. 8, "Scultore dell'arco alpino occidentale (?), Madonna con il Bambino", pp. 30-31;
- scheda n. 19, "P. Goret, Medaglia con il busto di Cristo", pp. 56-57;
- scheda n. 20, "P. Goret, Medaglia con il busto della Vergine", pp. 58-59;
- scheda n. 32, "Scultore dell'Europa centrale (?), Madonna che allatta il Bambino", pp. 84-85.
Traduzioni di Stefano Manavella, dall'italiano al francese:
schede nn. 7, 8, 10, 12, 17, 19, 20, 21, pp. 28-31, 35, 42, 50, 56-61.

Jacques and Leopold Wiener's large format 1852 medal issued to commemorate Bishop C. R. A. Van Bommel is examined in the context of Van Bommel's role in the independence movement and formative years of the Belgian nation. Early documentary evidence is also investigated for insight into the medal's production.

This article resumes the recent counting of all the properties of the Belgian coin cabinet in Brussels. The total figure for the library is around 36,000 books (periodicals, sales, pamphlets) and 200,000 items, among which c. 80,000 coins, 37,000 medals (not taking into account c. 20,000 religious medals), 18,000 notes, 13,000 tokens, 6,000 decorations, etc.).  More details are given for each category.

This volume takes as its theme the devotional cultures of European Christianity, from the dawn of the French Revolution to that later revolution which was the Second Vatican Council. At one level it deals with what might be called, in devotional terms, a ‘long nineteenth century’. The collection is divided into three parts. The first is composed of five essays that explore the theme of spiritual and devotional renewal in Norway, Ireland, Italy and France. The second part examines questions pertaining to devotional culture in the arts, with specific studies related to aspects of sacred music, iconography and architecture. The final part addresses the use of devotional instruments, respectively hymnody and religious emblems, to identify individuals and groups over and against a specified ‘other’, whether that ‘other’ be in 1850s’ England, 1930s’ Spain or 1970s’ Belfast. Many of the contributions were first presented as papers at a five-day workshop for the European Network on the Instruments of Devotion (ENID) held at St Patrick’s College, Thurles, Ireland, which culminated in an international conference on ‘The Material Culture of Catholic Devotion, c.1850–c.1950’ in January 2008.

This volume can be ordered from the publishers through the following email address:
http://www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/2012/devotional-cultures-of-european-christianity/

Les médailles de dévotion catholiques inscrites en caractères chinois ont retenu l’attention de numismates depuis un demi-siècle (voir notamment Turk & Arber-Cooke 1967-1970 ; Cribb 1978, 1981 ; Thierry 1987, 2008, 2021). Ceux-ci ont émis l’hypothèse de médailles frappées en France pour être distribuées par les missionnaires aux nouveaux convertis. Le mélange d’une iconographie typique du 19e siècle – de style saint-sulpicien – et de sinogrammes tracés avec une habileté variable rend dans tous les cas leur identification particulièrement complexe.
Sur base d’un corpus beaucoup plus important que ceux réunis jusqu’à ce jour, de recherches dans les archives missionnaires et d’un réexamen épigraphique, nous proposons une analyse nouvelle et contre-intuitive qui soutient que ces médailles n’ont pour leur immense majorité pas atteint la Chine, mais soutenaient la propagande missionnaire en France et dans les autres pays du monde catholique.