AS AN ANGEL REVEALED TO HER: MIRACLES, VISIONS, PREDICTIONS, AND SUPERNATURAL PHENOMENA AND THE POLITICS OF MEMORY IN EARLY MEDIEVAL VENICE

The study of miracles, visions, predictions, and other supernatural phenomena has become important for understanding religious practices, mentalities, and the use of the past in the Middle Ages. In spite of the absence of local martyrs and saints and the small hagiographical production in Venice during the early Middle Ages, these phenomena were also relevant in this region. This article emphasizes both the unique aspects of the Venetian texts and their similarities with early medieval sources from the rest of Italy. In particular, it focuses on the ways Venetian authors employed miracles and divine interventions to shape a past that could be utilized for their present.