Resumen de Saint Rosendo, Cardinal Hyacinth and the Almohads
This article examines the canonization of Saint Rosendo of Dumio. Rosendo’s elevation occurred at a transitional period in the Church’s canonistic thought concerning canonization, and is of special interest because the canonization was first performed by a cardinal, Hyacinth, who later confirmed the canonization when he was made pope as Celestine III. But the Rosendo case is of further interest in the history of the Iberian peninsula. It has a local Galician context which helps us to understand the ambitions and conflicts of monasteries and bishops in the northwest of the Iberian peninsula during the twelfth century. Rosendo likewise had a special appeal to Christian rulers who advanced the militarization of sanctity as they sought to defend themselves against the Almohads. Similarly, the promotion of Rosendo by the papal legate was connected to the elevation of Christian rulers to the status of kingship, as the papacy sought all available means to extend the crusade in Spain.
