ABSTRACT
The Cult of Saints and Divine Patronage in Gallaecia before Santiago Alberto Ferreiro The fourth through the sixth centuries were a time of growing up, in terms of ecclesiastical culture, in the western provinces of the late Roman Empire. In the midst of the Germanic migrations and settlement there arose major ecclesiastical centers at Lérins (France), Braga (Portugal), Toledo (Spain), and Tours (France) among others. We also witness in these unsettling times the emergence of Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Cassiodorus who equaled intellectually the great Greek theologians of the eastern provinces of the Mediterranean. While the East held a virtual monopoly on the most prestigious pilgrimage centers, in the West the See of Tours surfaced as one of the most popular pilgrimage sites, attracting devotion even in the faraway eastern provinces. The cult of St. Martin of Tours (372–97) procured a significant place in the Iberian Peninsula, notably in what are now northwestern Spain and northern Portugal in the ancient province of Gallaecia [Galicia] (see map, page 16).
