ABSTRACT
Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries there was a vigorous circulation of overtly politically significant relics in the Duchy of Savoy and, later, in the Kingdom of Sardinia. As well as the remains of saints indicating dynastic sanctity (saints of families or patron saints of the ruling house) that were paraded in propagandist processions, this movement also featured the bones of saints and martyrs (often of obscure origin) brought into Piedmont and Savoy from Rome, Sardinia and other “deposits” of relics, to be promoted as patrons of local communities in search of new, more effective heavenly guardians.
