Visual and performative elements in the funeral sermon for Karl II von Liechtenstein-Castelcorno, Bishop of Olomouc, in the Church of Ss Peter and Paul in Brno in 1695

The funeral sermon for Karl II von Liechtenstein-Castelcorno, Bishop of Olomouc/Olmütz, was written by Matthias Ignaz Scholtz and read during the funeral ceremonies for the bishop that were held in Brno/Brünn in the collegiate Church of Ss Peter and Paul on 17th August 1695. Published soon after in print, the sermon contains a number of verbal descriptions of emblems in which the priest explained the church's funerary decorations to the listeners. This article tries to shed light on the interactive experiential nature of this sermon, which employed visual and verbal devices to appeal to the senses of the listeners. It seeks also to describe the emblematic structures in the church, which at least partially preserve the appearance of the funerary decorations in place during the exequies for the bishop. The article explains the means by which memory of the bishop was shaped and analyses key themes in the visual funerary elements that were intended to be remembered. The article reconstructs the basic themes in the verbal and visual elements evoking the bishop in the funeral rites, both in relation to the group of people who organised the celebration, commissioned the sermon, and took part in the ceremony, and in comparison with the printed versions of the sermons that were read one week later at the funeral of the bishop at the cathedral in Olomouc.