Vida y muerte de San Cristóbal

As the patron of travelers, Saint Christopher inspired one of the most popular cultsinthemedievalera,which spreadacrossEuropeand especiallythe Iberian Peninsula.Artisticrenderings of the saintwerefound nearthe doors of most Spanish Gothic churches,andparatheatrical representations of Saint Christopher werealsocommonplace in religious processions. His conversion and martyrdom wereoftenstaged between the fifteenth and early eighteenth centuries. In the theater, Juan de Benavides'sVida ymuertede San Cristóbalis one of two knowncomediasdealing with the saint, but it was heavily censored after its premiere.The immense popularity of St. Christopher and other primitive saints first drew the attention of the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s, when the Catholic Church attempted to suppress the influence of the earlier saints due to their fantastical nature.Thestoriesof these saintswere censored, rewritten or even omitted in the post-Tridentinemartyrologies. Thispublicationis the firstcritical editionof the only extant copy ofBenavides'splayscript.The circumstances surroundingBenavides's play continuea dialogue about such important topics as censorship and the influence of the churchover artistic production.