According to tradition, on the night of March 15, 1345, a Eucharistic host thrown into a burning fireplace was found intact hours later. A chapel was erected over the spot, and the citizens of Amsterdam became devoted to their “Holy Stead.” From the original Eucharistic processions evolved the custom of individual devotees walking around the chapel while praying in silence, and the growing international pilgrimage site contributed to the rise and prosperity of Amsterdam. With the arrival of the Reformation, the Amsterdam Miracle became a point of contention between Catholics and Protestants, and the changing fortunes of this devotion provide us a front-row seat to the challenges facing religion in the world today. Caspers and Margry trace these transformations and their significance through the centuries, from the Catholic medieval period through the Reformation to the present day. 

"In their marvelously detailed account, Charles Caspers and Peter Jan Margry show how deeply embedded sacred matters are in the history of a place. Excavating layer upon layer of political, civil, and religious history, the authors bring to light the deeply structured cultural memory of a miracle, demonstrating in the process just how richly creative tradition can be. The miracle of a fourteenth-century Eucharistic host is as persistent as Dutch Catholicism and as vivacious as the city of Amsterdam. Extensively researched and clearly written, this book is a model of how to do the cultural history of religion." (David Morgan, Duke University).

Publicatiegegevens

• Titel: The Miracle of Amsterdam. Biography of a Contested Devotion.
• Auteurs: Peter Jan Margry & Charles Caspers
• Uitgever: Notre Dame University Press
• ISBN: 978-0-268-10565-5