Finding Christ in roots and seeds: crucifixes produced by nature in Quaresmio’s Terrae Sanctae Elucidatio

Abstract

In his Terrae Sanctae Elucidatio (1639), Francesco Quaresmio devotes a digression to three highly peculiar objects: two plant roots grown into the shape of a crucifix (one of them discovered in the vicinity of Jerusalem), and a figure of the crucified Christ sprouted from a nut collected by a pilgrim near the Holy Sepulchre. This article explores the methods employed by Quaresmio in the study of these objects, which belonged to a larger group of images apparently produced by nature discussed in the works of late medieval and early modern travellers, religious writers, natural historians and antiquarians. It examines the use that Quaresmio made of autopsy, visual reproduction, and witness interviews in researching the history of the three crucifixes. At the same time, it shows how his adoption of empirical methods went hand in hand with devotional preoccupations, bringing to the forefront Quaresmio’s conception of the relationship between nature and the divine, as well as his belief in the complementarity of natural evidence, historical knowledge, and biblical exegesis.