Martyrdom provides a critical lens for reconsidering how modernity has perceived pain. This chapter explores the revival of the martyr as a collective symbol and a tool for forging imagined communities, both religious and secular. It challenges rigid binaries between religion, nationalism, modernity, and revolution. In the 19th century, martyrdom moved beyond the Christian imaginary, as the martyr’s body became a contested site of spiritual, political and cultural meaning. Religious and political leaders, as well as national and ethnic communities, renegotiated the boundaries of the sacred and the profane through diverse commemorations. Among other evolutions, the role of print culture was central to expand and to consolidate this transformation.
KU Leuven, Belgium - ORCID: 0000-0001-6245-6669
Chapter Title
Bearing witness to pain. The politics of martyrdom in late modernity
Authors
Natalia Núñez Bargueño
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1072-0.09
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Pain fragments
Book Subtitle
Practising Catholicism in the 19th and 20th centuries
Editors
Tine Van Osselaer, Leonardo Rossi, Kristof Smeyers, Maria Heidegger
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
184
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1072-0
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1071-3
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1072-0
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-1073-7
Series Title
Fragmentaria. Studi di storia culturale e antropologia religiosa
Series ISSN
2975-1217
Series E-ISSN
2975-1225