Un inventario de reliquias inédito de San Salvador de Valdediós (Asturias)

A previously unnoticed and undeciphered Latin text, preserved on the plaster of San Salvador de Valdediós church in Asturias, has been successfully read through advanced photographic retouching and comparative analysis with Visigothic and medieval texts. The text reveals a meticulously ordered inventory of 16 relics from 13 saints, biblical figures, or early Christian leaders (III-IV centuries), deposited in the main altar during the Asturian Kingdom period. Notably, the inventory includes a unique mention of Saint Basilissa, distinguishing it from other Asturian catalogs linked to Oviedo. Linguistic and paleographic analysis suggests the text dates to around 893, coinciding with the church's pre-Romanesque parietal decoration phase or shortly before 968. This discovery sheds new light on the religious and cultural practices of the time, particularly in the context of the Kingdom of Asturias.

Valdés Gallego, J. A. (2020). Un inventario de reliquias inédito de San Salvador de Valdediós (Asturias). Documenta & Instrumenta - Documenta et Instrumenta, 18, 223–244. https://doi.org/10.5209/docu.68791