Alumna to Present on Papal Ceremony

Alumna Jasmine Cloud will return to present “Taking Possession of the City: Papal Ceremony and Urbanism in the Early Modern Roman Forum,” at 5 p.m. Feb. 6 in Ophelia Parrish 2210.

A 2005 graduate of Truman, Cloud went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Ph.D. from Temple University. She is currently an assistant professor at the University of Central Missouri and has published her research in “Reflections on Renaissance Venice, Perspectives on Public Space in Rome, from Antiquity to the Present Days,” and “Venice in the Renaissance: Essays in Honor of Patricia Fortini Brown.” Cloud was the recipient of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation’s Institutional Fellowship, which included a residency at the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome.

The presentation will focus on the historic ceremony of the posseso, in which a newly elected pope processed through the streets of Rome from the Vatican to the Lateran. The posseso took on new significance in the early modern period. This ceremonial procession presented the pope and his entourage to the people of Rome, and renewed the urban landscape of the city for the new spiritual ruler. The Roman Forum became a particularly charged site in this spectacle, featuring elaborate displays and rituals that tied the papacy to the ancient city’s emperors, whose triumphs this religious ceremony emulated in structure and route.

All are invited to attend the lecture, especially those interested in art history, Italian studies, and early modern (Renaissance) studies.

Cloud’s visit is funded by the School of Arts and Letters Alumni Visit Grant in support of the School of Arts and Letters strategic goal of enhancing interaction between alumni, faculty and students. Visits by alumni include substantive interaction on campus with students and faculty, and at least one public presentation as part of the visit.