Christians, Jews, and Converts in the Island of Majorca around 1400: Spatial Segregation, Business Relations, and Language Practices

“The Miraculous Virgin of Lead” explores the Church's encouragement of the multi-confessional worship of a miraculous image of the Virgin found in the small town of Olovo, some forty kilometers northeast of Sarajevo from its initial mention in 1581 up through 1630. Apostolic visitors traveling through Bosnia first noted with shock that Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Muslims were participating in the Feast of the Assumption. Overtime the shock, and initial admonishment of the multi-confessional worship of the image (including the image’s fame to perform miracles for anyone), shifted to awe and encouragement of the local clergy, the Bosnian Franciscans, to continue such practices. The reputation of the image’s miraculous generosity reached the ears of Ferdinand II who sent a spy to both prove the voracity of the accounts and see how easily it might be for the emperor to steal the image. Exploring both these accounts and this shared sacred festival from the perspective of the multi-confessional community this paper aims to parse out the many nuanced factors that created a world where sacred sharing was continually present. Comprised of locals from the town of Olovo and pilgrims from across the Balkans, this continual sharing of the miraculous images continued throughout the seventeenth century. Taking the approach of Marc Forester and Rafael-Dorian Chelaru, I argue that the shared practices were due to the multi-confessional nature of the Ottoman Balkans, the encouragement of the practice by Bosnian Franciscans, and, tangentially, Rome. Together, they created a climate of “confessional fluidity,” one that was able to continue within the city of Olovo throughout the seventeenth century.