Attori e forme della marginalità sociale nei "Dialogi" di Gregorio Magno

Starting from a brief historiographical focus on the concept of social marginality, this essay investigates the presence and role of marginal figures in Gregory the Great’s Dialogues. A preliminary analysis of the episodes leads to the conclusion that the role of marginalized categories (e.g. the poor, beggars, foreigners, thieves, children) in the stories of miracles is both as people in need of help, and as addressees of warnings and punishments. Thus, from the didactic/pedagogical perspective of the miracle and its symbolic and realistic representation in historical-geographical contexts, even the marginalized acquire an instrumental function in Gregory’s pastoral project