Reports of water miracles saints and analysis results of a stalactite: By combining historical with geochemical investigations, an interdisciplinary research team throws light on a late antique climate change in northern Italy and its cultural impact. The increased rainfall and floods in the 6th century are therefore reflected in unusual religious stories of the time. In it the Italian saints show their power over the element of water.
As the research team reports, the study of a stalagmite from the Renella Cave in northern Tuscany formed the basis of the climate-historical component of their study. As they explain, the mineral layers of stalactites, which are deposited over time, similar to tree rings, can provide information about climatic developments in the past. For the study, they determined the proportions of the oxygen isotopes in the successive layers of the stalagmite, in which wet and dry periods are reflected. The layers can be dated using the uranium-thorium method – the time-dependent decay of radioactive uranium isotopes into insoluble thorium.
Geochemical evidence of flooding
The results showed that the 6th century in northern and central Italy differed from other periods by a significantly higher level of humidity. This was probably due to an atmospheric phenomenon in the North Atlantic, which caused frequent weather conditions that increasingly brought moist air, especially to northern and central Italy. Since the water of the North Atlantic has a higher concentration of lighter oxygen isotopes than the “usual” precipitation in northern Italy, this “humid” climatic change has left a clear isotopic trace in the layers of the stalagmite studied, the researchers explain. According to them, the results indicate that the 6th century in northern and central Italy was marked by unusually heavy rainfall and associated flooding.
This is exactly what was also reflected in the historical sources, say the scientists. As they report, a particularly large number of ancient and medieval texts were accessible to them through “The Cult of Saints in Antiquity Database”. They analyzed the Italian writings of the sixth century against the background of other late antique and early medieval sources. In the comparisons, the special focus was on the so-called hagiographic writings – the stories about saints and their miracles.
Unusual miracles
As they report, a recurring motif stands out in the Italian texts of the 6th century: in particular the collection of scriptures “Dialogi de vita et miraculis patrum Italicorum”, which is attributed to Pope Gregory the Great (540 to 604), contains many descriptions of so-called water miracles in which saints caused heavy rains, storms and floods and could end afterwards. For example, according to tradition, St. Fredianus diverted the Serchio River into a new river bed so that the city of Lucca was no longer threatened by floods.
In contrast, in hagiographic texts from earlier and later periods, as well as in contemporary writings from the area of today’s France, there are hardly any reports of water miracles. In the Italian texts of the century at the end of antiquity, on the other hand, they account for up to 20 percent of all miracles described, the scientists emphasize. They interpret the sudden appearance of these reports as an indication of the special interest in hydroclimatic events in the region. They see the reason in the local climatic change that emerges from the investigation of the stalagmite.
This link is also interesting from a cultural and historical point of view, emphasize the researchers: The fact that hydrological and climatic events are mentioned in Italian writings from the 6th century indicates that these events played a role in socio-cultural change. “The literary sources reflect the worldview of the ecclesiastical writers of this era and the basis for their interpretation of extraordinary natural phenomena,” says co-author Robert Wiśniewski from the University of Warsaw. It shows how the assumption of local positions of power by bishops at the end of the 6th century was connected with the development of a cult of saints, which was characterized by a belief in Christian power over diseases, people and nature. The “hybrid” approach of the study thus provided insights into how society reacted to climate change and natural disasters at the time, the researchers sum up.
Source: Max Planck Institute for the History of Man, Technical article: Climatic Change, doi: 10.1007 / s10584-021-03043-x