Making saint and performing locality as heritagization? Ethnography of local holiness and village identity in the French and Italian Alps

Abstract

This paper deals with the study of today’s village identity through narratives, rituals and heritage performances of the cult of local saints in the French and Italian Alps. Both ecclesiastical and secular roles are analysed in order, firstly, to throw light on dynamic relations between the making of the saint and the construction of the local identity and, secondly, to question the application of heritagization schema to patron saint cult.