Key German Terms
Gang is the word used for one of the strictly sequential processions or stages into which a public display of relics was divided. It also designates the corresponding section in the printed work, or relic book, which records this display.
Heiltum is the outdated word for the relic of a saint. It is related to heilen (to heal) and heilig (holy), so relics healed in a spiritual as well as physical sense (a meaning lost in modern German Reliquie or English relic, something left over).
Heiltumsbuch is the term for the books which, in text and image, documented the public display of relics. Reading them was meant to enable imaginative reconstruction of the event and ultimately to aid spiritual healing, i.e., salvation.
Heiltumsschreier or “relic shouter” was the title given to the man who, in a loud voice, announced the relics and reliquaries in the order in which they were presented. The Latin term vocalissimus (from Latin vocalis) was also used.
Heiltumsstuhl literally means “relic chair.” It is the word for the stage (usually constructed especially for the occasion and several stories high) from which the salvific relics were displayed to the assembled faithful.
Heiltumsweisung was the public display of relics (left-over bits of bone, skin, hair, cloth and random objects associated with the saints) and hence of the healing, redemptive powers condensed into them. It took place on special feast days.
Schreizettel (literally “shout note”) were the sheets of paper on which the relics were listed in the order of their presentation to the assembled faithful. The contents of the various reliquaries were proclaimed or shouted out one by one.