Forty Hours Devotion. Arts, Music, Spirituality

27-28 March 2025
Institut français Centre Saint-Louis, Rome
Call for papers

The purpose of the conference is to explore the devotional, normative, artistic and musical aspects of the Forty Hours Devotion between the sixteenth and the nineteenth century. The idea of the conference sprouts from the recent discovery of a nineteenth-century Forty Hours *Macchina* inthe attic of the church of S. Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. The *Macchina*will be restored and shown to the public during the 2025 Jubilee; a concert of the *Ensemble Correspondance *(dir. Sébatien Daucé) and an international conference are planned for the occasion.

Starting from the Middle Ages, the Forty Hours developed in Milan from 1527 as a reaction to the devastation caused by the wars of Charles V. The name“Forty Hours” itself refers to the period of time that Jesus spent in the tomb, from the moment of his burial to that of his resurrection. Although it does not belong to liturgical worship, the devotion draws on its elements, consisting of the adoration of the Eucharist exposed for forty consecutive hours. During the years following the Lutheran Reformation, the Forty Hours became a way to reaffirm the presence of Christ in the Eucharist on a popular level. The devotion spread throughout the Italian peninsula and in several European countries. Already in 1539, Pope Paul III had approved the practice of the Forty Hours for all the churches of Milan, while in 1577 it was the Archbishop of Milan Carlo Borromeo who drew up the *Avvertenze per l’oratione delle quarante hore*, which became the basis for the subsequent pontifical legislation. In 1592, Pope Clement VIII turned this devotion in a perpetual prayer to be celebrated in the churches of Rome with an uninterrupted chain of processions, hoping for harmony between Christian principles and peace between nations. Later, in 1692 and 1705, Innocent XII promulgated a decree, followed by an *Instructio* by Clement XI. The normative interest that has been found in just over a century reveals the enormous diffusion and ever-increasing importance allotted to the devotion. At the same time, the spectacularisation of the ceremony grew in scale, unfortunately leaving no concrete traces, both material and documentary.

Regarding the visual arts, the spectacular ephemeral apparatuses created on the occasion of the Forty Hours had their peak in the Baroque period, in particular thanks to the Jesuits. Sacred scenographies became a ground for experimentation, an opportunity to focus on new techniques, tests for future non-ephemeral works. Under the careful direction of architects and artists, responsible together with the religious patrons and clients of the iconographical program, architecture, paintings, lighting, perspective illusions filled these “figurative sermons” with wood, stucco, papier-mâché, and fabric. In seventeenth-century Rome, artists such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Pietro da Cortona and Carlo Rainaldi made a fundamental contribution to the artistic visualisation of devotional practice. Built not to last, today it is possible to imagine what these incredible sets looked like thanks to engravings, drawings and reports.

Musicological studies have already highlighted, especially for the Modern period, several institutions and personalities who provided the Forty Hours with a significant musical component. For instance, Cardinal Ottoboni famously organised the celebrations at the church of S. Lorenzo in Damaso, adjacent to his Palazzo della Cancelleria, for which there are payments to Arcangelo Corelli. Important ceremonies with music also took place at the church of S. Agnese in Agone in the month of August financed by Flavio Chigi and Camillo Filippo Pamphilj and in the national church of S. Luigi dei Francesi.

Far from being a phenomenon limited to the papal city, devotional, artistic and musicological studies have demonstrated the organisation of important Forty Hours Devotion ceremonies also in Naples, Florence and Sicily, as well as in France, Spain, Austria and Germany.

The theme of the Forty Hours Devotion aroused significant interest invarious disciplinary fields. A transdisciplinary understanding that encompasses both the normative, artistic, musical and patronage aspects is still missing. Furthermore, most of the work carried out so far has focused on the Baroque or late Baroque period. Therefore, it seems important to spark discussions that go beyond this limited chronological period and include the nineteenth 19th century to a greater extent.

The sensory stimulation generated by the arts, combined with the “bel composto” (light, music, scenography, architecture) wrapped the faithful through the eyes of Faith to recognise the presence of Christ, real even if mediated by artifice. Fertile incubation ground for new artistic seeds, new techniques, different cultural moments, the apparatus and music of the Forty Hours constitute a precious starting point for delving deeper into the history of visual and sound culture for devotional purposes.

Contributions can take the form of presentations (15-20 min.) or posters (with a brief presentation, 3 min). The conference topics include but are not limited to:

1. Normative aspects related to Forty Hours Devotions

2. Devotional aspects

3. Differences and similarities in the devotion in different centres of Catholicism

4. Development of the devotion between the 16th and the 19th century

5. Religious orders and the Forty Hours Devotion

6. Celebrations of the devotion in specific institutions

7. Aspects of musical performances

8. Ephemeral apparatuses recorded in drawings, engravings, descriptions and treatises

9. The artists’ involvement in staging the ceremony

10. Other aspects of Eucharistic devotion

11. The role of the client in staging and dramatising the ceremony

Official languages of the conference are Italian, English and French.

*Keynote speakers* : Marcello Fagiolo (Centro di Studi sulla Cultura e l'immagine di Roma), Robert L. Kendrick (University of Chicago)

*Calendar*

*12th of January 2025*: deadline for submission of proposals, to be sent to

The application must include:

Abstract, max. 1500 characters;

A brief CV of each applicant, max 500 characters;

List of technical needs, and contact informations (phone number,
e-mail) of each applicant.

*31st of January 2025*: notification of acceptance from the
Scientific Committee.

*27-28th of March 2025*: International Conference, exhibition of the
Forty Hours *Macchina* in S. Luigi dei Francesi, concert by *Ensemble
Correspondance*.

The selected communications will be published.

*Scientific Coordinator* Michela Berti (Conservatorio “F. Morlacchi”, Perugia – Pieux Établissements de la France à Rome et à Lorette)

*Scientific Committee* Michela Berti (Conservatorio “F. Morlacchi”, Perugia – Pieux Établissements de la France à Rome et à Lorette), Albane Cogné (École française de Rome), Bernard Dompnier (Université Clermont Auvergne), Arnaldo Morelli (Università dell’Aquila), Alessandra Rodolfo (Musei Vaticani)

*Organising Committee*, ,Margherita Antolini (Politecnico di Torino), Lorraine Creusot (Institut français Centre Saint-Louis)

*Partner Institutions* : Centro Studi sulla Cultura e Immagine di Roma, École française de Rome, Institut français Centre Saint-Louis, Pieux Établissements de la France à Rome et à Lorette, Società Italiana di Musicologia

Selected bibliography

C. M. BINO, *La predicazione **cappuccina per le Quarantore** e un, sermonario annotato della fine del Seicento*, in "Drammaturgia", XVII, (2020), n.s. 7, pp. 7-54.

A. BUCCHERI, *I teatri delle Quarantore il popolo testimone, dell’epifania del divino*, in *La sovrabbondanza del Barocco*, a cura di V., Viola, R. La Delfa, C. Scordato, scritti di E. Ardissino, Siciliae, mirabilia 8, Enna 2019, pp. 191-207. Atti del convegno tenutosi a Palermo, il 22 giugno 2018 presso la Facoltà teologica "San Giovanni Evangelista"

T. CHIRICO, *«Et iusti intrabunt in eam». Committenza ottoboniana,, macchine e musiche per la festa delle Quarantore (1690-1713)*, in Arcomelo, 2013. Studi nel terzo centenario della morte di Arcangelo Corelli, (1653-1713) a cura di Guido Olivieri e Marc Vanscheeuwijck, pp. 297-326.

A. DE SANTI, *L'orazione delle Quarant'ore e i tempi di calamità e di guerra*, Roma : Civiltà Cattolica, 1919, pp. 1-12.

R. DIEZ, *Le Quarantore. Una predica figurata*, in *La festa a Roma
dal Rinascimento al 1870*, Atlante, a cura di M. Fagiolo dell’Arco, Torino, Allemandi, 1997, vol. II, pp. 84-97;

B. DOMPNIER, *Un aspect de la dévotion eucharistique dans la France du XVIIe siècle : les prières des Quarante-Heures*, in *Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France*, tome 67, n°178, 1981, pp. 5-31:6-10

M. FAGIOLO, *Il trionfo del Barocco nella teatralità dei Gesuiti **dalle canonizzazioni alle Quarantore e alle scenografie di Sopron* in S. Sturm, M. Fagiolo con scritti di Jérôme de la Gorce, Martin Olin, *Le corti europee del teatro barocco*, Roma 2022.

M. FAGIOLO, *Corpus delle feste a Roma. Il Settecento e l’Ottocento/2*, Roma 1997

M. FAGIOLO DELL’ARCO, *La festa barocca*, *Corpus delle feste a Roma*/1, Roma1997

J. R. FEHLEISON, *Appealing to the Senses: The Forty Hours Celebrations in the Duchy of Chablais, 1597-98*, The Sixteenth Century Journal , Summer, 2005, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Summer, 2005), pp. 375-396

A. HORN, *Teatri sacri**: **Andrea Pozzo and the Quarant'ore at* * the **Gesù*, in *The Holy Name: Art of the Gesù; Bernini and His Age*, ed. by Linda Wolk-Simon. Early Modern Catholicism and the Visual Arts 16. Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s University Press, 2018.

J. IMORDE, *Francesco Barberini Vice-Chancellor: the Quarant’ore Decorations in S. Lorenzo in Damaso of 1633*, in Pietro da Cortona, “Atti del convegno internazionale di studi” (Roma-Firenze 1997), a cura di Ch.L. Frommel-S. Schütze, Milano, Electa, 1998, pp. 53-61;

J. IMORDE, *Visualising the Eucharist: theoretical problems, *in E. Oy Marra, V.R. Remmert (a cura di), *Le monde est une peinturer: jesuitische Identität und die Rolle der Bilder*, Akad.-Verl., Berlino 2011, pp. 109-125.

J. KÖRBER, *Die Quarantore -* *Ein Ritual zwischen Tradition und Restriktion* *die sichtbaren Folgen einer Inszenierung des Unsichtbaren*, in *Paramente in Bewegung* a cura di U. Röper e H. J. Scheuer, Regensburg 2019, pp. 181-194

S. LA VIA, *Il Cardinale Ottoboni e la musica: Nuovi documenti (1700-1740), nuove letture e ipotesi*, in *Intorno a Locatelli: Studi in occasione del tricentenario della nascita di Pietro Antonio Locatelli—1695-1764*, Speculum musicae, 1995, Libreria Musicale Italiana (LIM), pp. 319-526;

H. LULOFS, *Romae non sic: Kerkdecors voor voor het veertigurengebed van carnaval in Rome en voor de Paastijd in Oostenrijk en Zuid-Duitsland 1600-1800*. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (2017).

H. LULOFS, *A Design by Grimaldi for the Forty Hours Devotion*, in Master Drawings , Autumn, 1992, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 320-325

H. LULOFS, *Heavenly Images in the Churches of Rome. Stage Scenography for the Forty Hour Devotion during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century as Spectacular Alternative to the Street Theater of Carnival*, in *The Power of Imagery. Essays on Rome, Italy and Imagination*, a cura di P. van Kessel, Roma, Istituto Olandese-Nederlands Instituut te Rome, 1992, pp. 163-172;

A. MORELLI, *‘Musica nobile e copiosa di voci et istromenti’. Spazio architettonico, cantorie e palchi in relazione ai mutamenti di stile e prassi nella musica da chiesa fra Sei e Settecento*, in «Analect musicologica. Veroffentlichungen der Musikgeschichtlichen Abteilung des Deutschen Historischen Instituts in Rom», 33, 2004, pp. 293-330.

A. MORELLI, *Teatro della vista e dell’udito*, Libreria Musicale Italiana, Lucca 2017.

G. MORELLI, *Il cardinale Pietro Ottoboni e la cappella musicale di S. Lorenzo in Damaso*, in «Strenna dei Romanisti», XLV, 1984, pp. 353-357.

K. NOEHLES, *Scenografie per le Quarantore e altari barocchi*, in La scenografia barocca, a cura di A. Schnapper, Bologna, Clueb, 1982, pp. 151-155;

K. NOEHLES, *Teatri per le Quarantore e altari barocchi*, in *Barocco romano e barocco italiano: il teatro, l’effimero, l’allegoria*, a cura di M. Fagiolo dell’Arco-M.L. Madonna, Roma, Gangemi, 1985, pp. 88-99;

N. H. PETERSEN, *The Quarant'Ore: Early Modern Ritual and Performativity*, in *Performativity and Performance in Baroque Rome*, ed. by Peter Gillgren, Mårten Snickare, Ashgate, 2012, pp. 115-133

F. PICCININI, *Le “Quarant’ore” al Gesù del 1656*, «Bollettino della Unione Storia e Arte», N.S. 2002, 6, pp. 51-59;

P. L. RODRIGUEZ, *La musica delle Quarantore nella Cappella Reale spagnola nel XVII secolo*, in Barocco Padano, Atti del XIII Convegno internazionale sulla musica italiana nei secoli XVII-XVIII (Brescia, 18-20 luglio 2005), a cura di Alberto Colzani - Andrea Luppi - Maurizio Padoan (A.M.I.S Como 2008).

F. RONGONI GÀL, *Apparati festivi a Roma nel 17. secolo : le quarantore*, in “Roma moderna e contemporanea : rivista interdisciplinare di storia” - 18 (2010), 1/2, p. 275-308

H. E. SMITHER, *The Function of Music in the Forty Hours’ Devotion of 17th- and 18th-Century Italy*, in Comberiati, C. P. and Steel, M. C. (eds), Music from the Middle Ages through the Twentieth Century: Essays in Honor of Gwynn McPeek. New York, 1988

J. TONKOVICH, *Two Studies for the Gesù and a “quarantore” Design by Bernini*, «The Burlington Magazine», 1998, 140, pp. 34-37;

P. TORNIAI, *Il carnevale sacro a Roma nel Seicento. Vocabolario artistico, apparato scenico-tecnico, corredo iconografico delle Quarantore*, in «Storia dell’Arte», 1991, 71, pp. 94-108;

M. S. WEIL, *The Devotion of the Forty Hours and Roman Baroque Illusions*, in “Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes”, 1974, Vol. 37 (1974), pp. 218-248.

M.S. WEIL, *L’orazione delle Quarantore come guida allo sviluppo del linguaggio barocco*, in* Centri e periferie del barocco: corso internazionale di alta cultura*, a cura di G. Cantone, vol. 1 (Il Barocco romano e l’Europa, a cura di M. Fagiolo dell’Arco), Roma, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, 1992, pp. 675-6940.

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