Antón M. Pazos is currently a member of the Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences and Vice President of the International Commission for History and Studies of Christianity (CIHEC). He is also Deputy Director of the Instituto de Estudios Gallegos Padre Sarmiento (IEGPS), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and a member of the editorial committees of the journals Hispania Sacra and Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos. At the IEGPS he is the coordinator of a line of research into pilgrimage, which has been the driving force behind several research projects, especially in the organisation of the International Colloquia Compostela.

Introduction: Relics, Holiness and Devotion.-Antón M. Pazos1 Relics as Historical Objects: Overview, Methods and Prospects -Philippe George; PART 1 The Relics of St James in Europe; 2 Relics and Pilgrimages of St James the Greater in France-Adeline Rucquoi; 3 Keeping the Angevin Peace: The Hand of Saint James in England-Simon Yarrow; 4 Roncesvalles as a Reliquary on the Way to Santiago-José Andrés-Gallego; 5 Visiting the Apostle Santiago: Pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in the 16th-19th centuries-Ofelia Rey Castelao; 6 The Course and Consequences of the Reinventio of the Relics of St James in 1879-Antón M. Pazos; PART 2 Furta Sacra; 7 The Theft of Relics in the Middle Ages: Arguments, Typology and Legitimacy- Edina Bozoky; 8 Furta Sacra in Southern Italy in the Middle Ages- Amalia Galdi; 9 The Three Magi: Places of Worship in Cologne Cathedral- Klaus G. Hardering; PART 3 The Resilience of Relics and Shrines; 10 Mobile Martyrs and Forgotten Shrines: The Translation and Domestication of Relics in Post-Reformation England-Alexandra Walsham; 11 The life of dry bones: Pilgrimage to relic shrines in Soviet Russia-Stella Rock; PART 4 Relics and Science;12 The Relics of the True Cross: An Interdisciplinary approach-Georges Kazan and Thomas Higham;13 St John's relics from the monastery on Sveti Ivan island near Sozopol, Bulgaria: Archaeological and scientific research-Kazimir Popkonstantinov and Rossina Kostova