Vilnius, 15-17 October 2026
Cult of saint – an important feature of Catholicism before and after the Council of Trent –
expressed itself in various media, including art and literature and their generic intersections.
Hagiographic and, more generally, religious works served not only the paraenetic agenda of
educating the devotees in Catholic morals and doctrine, but were also used to mark and develop
specific profiles of different communities which, on the one hand, already existed and competed
with each other or, on the other hand, were newly encultured into the framework of Catholicism.
Focusing on hagiography and other related groups of religious literature, this conference
embraces the question of how the figures of saints, candidates to sanctity or people regarded as
saints were exploited in the process of profiling various local or monastic communities and other
groups in the Catholic Church in the time from the late 16th until the end of 19th century. How
important or desired was it to shape a specific or, conversely, a generic profile? Which features
did distinguish or link various communities and groups, or e.g. local communities of diƯerent
orders, with each other and with the Catholic doctrine? How and why did such specific or generic
features evolved over the centuries? What were the dynamics of group-specific notion of sanctity
and approach to cultic practices? Under which circumstances were the new figures of saints or
would-saints created and the old ones appropriated or recontextualised?
Considering the leading questions above, the topics of the presentations (about 20 minutes, in
English) may concern, but do not have to be limited to the following aspects:
– early modern hagiography: genres, topics, figures, contexts, intersections with other
thematic text groups;
– biblical, historical and mythological examples, references and motifs in hagiographic
argumentation;
– female and male sanctity in religious and hagiographic sources;
– desired sanctity: self-fashioning as a saint; failed canonisations endeavours;
– local communities within the Catholic Church and their literary profile;
– literature produced and circulated in the Catholic orders and their literary profile;
– facets of Eastern Catholicism and its representations in early modern literature;
– Catholicism and Catholic communities from the view of other confessions.
The call is opened for the researchers from all disciplines of early modern studies interested
particularly in hagiography and religious literature. The proposals, consisting of a title as well as
of an abstract and a short CV (each up to 300 words), should be sent until 31 January 2026 to
Patryk M. Ryczkowski (patryk.ryczkowski@flf.vu.lt) who will also answer any questions about the
conference. Selected speakers will be notified until 16 February 2026.
A post-conference publication in a peer-review format is planned; the details will follow.
The conference is part of the MSCA postdoctoral project BasInCult. Catholic Inculturation of the
Uniate Church: Basilian hagiography of the 17th and 18th centuries.