Analysis Of The Heart Relic Of Chiara Of Montefalco

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The heart relic of Chiara of Montefalco (discovered in 1308) can be understood as bodily in multiple respects. Quite obviously it is a dissected human heart and therefore is intrinsically linked to the body and the emerging practice of dissection in central medieval Italy. The relic is taken from the body of a potential saint thus Chiara’s body falls into a category of ‘otherness’. Her differentiated body becomes proof of her sanctity and the visual marks extracted from her body are highly significant in respects to the bodily. It can be said that Chiara’s heart is at the center of a larger, more complex network of visual agendas and this essay argues that the relic is not simply bodily because it is a dismembered organ but because of the objects