The core ambition of the project, born from an interaction design course, was to craft something eternal in our super fast moving digital landscape.

• Local vs. Universal Devotion: While universal saints like the Virgin Mary were important, there were also really local saints tied super closely to specific relics or a specific town. This local focus was important for the identity aspect, making the saint a powerful symbol of a shared history and a unique spiritual connection for that specific place.
• Civic Authority and Patron Saints: As Italian communes grew stronger, they often actively pushed their own patrony cults. This became a way to assert civic authority, sometimes even deliberately setting it up against the bishop’s power. Examples include Siena and the Madonna, Venice with San Marco, and Florence with San Giovanni Batista.
• Integration into Governance and Daily Life: Lay governments actively managed these cults, regulating feast days, pardoning prisoners in the saint’s name, funding candles, and even ensuring offerings from surrounding villages. This underscores how deeply embedded these beliefs were in everyday life, in governance and in the economy.
• Warfare Connection: Patron saints were also linked to warfare, as seen with the “Crochio,” or war cart with sacred images, used by the Lombard League with Senrosio’s image. Crusaders also pinned their hopes on saints for actual battlefield help, not just spiritual support.