PRAYERS FOR THE SALVATION OF THE SOUL. OBITUARY IN STONE IN SANT PAU DEL CAMP MONASTERY IN BARCELONA

This paper examines some inscriptions preserved in the monastery of Sant Pau del Camp, in Barcelona, in order to determine their functionality and find out who were their moral authors. We try to answer the questions of who and why. This collection of epigraphs is peculiar in Spanish medieval epigraphy; it cannot be assimilated exactly to epitaphia necrologica, because those in Sant Pau del Camp specially emphasize the foundation of anniversaries, that guarantee perpetual prayer for the deceased's soul. Consequently, we have conceptualized some of these inscriptions as fundationes of anniversary. This tradition is not habitual in other areas of the Iberian Peninsula, except Catalonia. Also, we can find similar inscriptions in the south of France. We also analyze the relationship of these epigraphs with obituaries and testamentary dispositions.