Sharing Sacred Space in the Medieval Mediterranean: Introduction

Abstract

On 8 July 2013, the day before the beginning of Ramad ān, Pope Francis led mass from an altar and spoke from a pulpit, both converted from migrant boats, in the Arena sports stadium, recently the refugee reception centre on Lampedusa. Five years later, in his homily for the feast day of Our Lady of Lampedusa (Madonna di Porto Salvo), Giuseppe Marciante, Bishop of Cefalù, referred to the papal visit, noting that “Lampedusa is a land that has always welcomed people –Maltese, Greeks, Spaniards – just as Mary has always welcomed the prayers that come to her from her children – Italians, Arabs, Christians and Muslims...”. Perhaps inevitably given its geographical location south-west of Sicily and east of Tunisia, in paths of trade, pilgrimage, diplomacy and conflict, this tiny Mediterranean island has a history of interand intra-religious contact. Extant sources suggest that, historically, this was frequently peaceful, with Frenchman Germain Moüette (1651–1721) noting that Lampedusa was “neutral for everyone”. In 1254, during their return to France, the crusading retinue of Louis IX (r. 1226– 1270) found an old hermitage with an orchard, a stream and caves, one of which contained an oratory with whitewashed walls and a terracotta cross. This site of worship appears in in other works by pre-modern travellers who journeyed across the Mediterranean and found themselves on Lampedusa. Moüette, known now for his detailed account of life as a slave in seventeenth-century Morocco, visited a little chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This chapel held various goods of use for sailing and travelling, and Moüette described the common practice by which these could be taken providing money or other goods were left in their place. By Moüette’s day, and to his surprise, this chapel