ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book plots against material culture research pointing to the vital pre-eminence of the would-be saints for Counter-Reformation Catholicism, building in particular on the important work of Simon Ditchfield, among others. It explores the intrinsic link between the spheres of hagiography, saint-making, and hagio-imagery as understood by Counter-Reformation Catholics. The book provides a focused reassessment of how Counter-Reformation image regulation worked in practice via the case study of the proliferation and censure of a specific corpus of imagery promoting the cult and canonization of Filippo Neri. It focuses on a particular example of Oratorian Beati moderni hagio-imagery, specifically a Philippine altarpiece, hitherto unidentified as such, which also provides a case study of Oratorian self-censorship. The book outlines a decentered, adversarial model of the Counter-Reformation, characterized as much by intra-confessional as by inter-confessional tensions, and illustrated in a series of incrementally focused case studies.
