The Miraculous Presence

The crosses and crucifixes that had gained a miraculous reputation did not exist in a spatial vacuum. The focus for this chapter is on the miraculous crosses and crucifixes’ cultic material environment that might be credited with agency of its own. Their cultic environment is understood as their material surroundings, including their placement inside the church, material traces of devotional touching found on the objects, as well as the rituals and actions they took part in. Yet, these aspects might not explain why or how an object gained a miraculous reputation in the first place, but will rather provide insight as to how the cult sustained and shed light on the continuous treatment and function of the sculptures once a cult had already been established.