Semiotics and the representation of holiness: methodological reflections and case studies

This monographic issue represents one of the main arrival points of the ERC project NeMoSanctI (New Models of Sanctity in Italy (1960s-2000s) — A Semiotic Analysis of Norms, Causes of Saints, Hagiography, and Narratives).1 The task of the project was to examine the new models of Catholic holiness emerging in contemporary culture by applying a semiotic approach that allowed an interdisciplinary team of researchers to look comparatively at a broad corpus of texts belonging to different genres but which, despite their superficial and formal differences, conform to a common axiology and show recurring features at deeper levels.