IL SANTO LEVRIERO | 1982 | JEAN-CLAUDE SCHMITT

Il santo levriero examines the curious medieval and early modern cult of Guinefort, a greyhound dog venerated as a healer of children. Jean-Claude Schmitt traces how popular belief, local folklore, ecclesiastical condemnation, and the genre of exempla shaped this phenomenon. The book situates the cult in the context of folk religion, superstition, and the tension between official Church doctrine and local devotional practices. Drawing on rare sources (notably the Dominican Etienne de Bourbon), Schmitt explores how Guinefort’s story reflects broader issues: the boundary between human and animal, sacred and profane, and how memory and ritual survive prohibition. It is both a case study and a method-model in the history of mentalities and religious culture.