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Tag Archives: relic
Posted by thereliquarian in Glass Reliquary
catacombs, Magi, martyr, relic, reliquary, Saint Innocent, Saint Matthew, United States, Washington
Peter Paul Rubens, Massacre of the Innocents (detail), oil on panel (c. 1638), Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
The Holy Innocents
The Massacre of the Innocents is sometimes invoked as an example of man's potential for savagery and brutality in war. In Henry V, for example, King Henry conjures the specter of Herod while addressing the governor and citizens of Harfleur, warning:
Take pity of your town and of your people,
Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command; . . .
If not, why, in a moment look to see . . .
Your naked infants spitted upon pikes,
Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused
Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry
At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen.[1]
It should be remembered, however, that the Massacre of the Innocents was a calculated act, a politically motivated event, rather than a mere accident of war. Its victims were helpless children, all under the age of two years. According to the Golden Legend, the Holy Innocents, as they came to be called, were considered holy and innocent "by reason of their life, of the death they suffered, and of the innocence they attained."[2]
Though mentioned only briefly in the Bible, the Holy Innocents were eventually bestowed their own feast day sometime during the late 4th to late 5th centuries.[3] Also known as Innocents' Day or Childermas, the Feast of the Holy Innocents was once a day of role reversals, akin to the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia, which placed children in authority over adults. Today, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, celebrated on 28 December, is a day of pranking and general tomfoolery similar to April Fools' Day in some parts of the world. In the town of Ibi, Spain, for example, the festival of Els Enfarinats famously features a coup d'etat and a fierce battle of eggs and flour bombs that is waged throughout the town.
Who were the Holy Innocents, though, and why were they massacred in the first place?
Killing of the Innocents, stained glass, Strasbourg Cathedral, Strasbourg, France
The Slaughter of the Innocents
The only Gospel writer who mentions the Massacre of the Innocents is Saint Matthew, who explains that Herod ordered the massacre after mysterious Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem inquiring about a newborn king. "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?" the Magi asked, somewhat indiscreetly. "We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."[4]
According to the Golden Legend, "Herod was troubled when he heard of this, fearing that someone might have been born of the true royal line and might expel him as a usurper of the throne."[5] Nevertheless, perceiving an opportunity to discover the whereabouts of his potential challenger, Herod feigned interest in worshipping the new king and slyly asked the Magi to bring him news once they had found him. "Go and search carefully for the child," he told them. "As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."[6] Herod had no intention of worshipping the child, however. Rather, he intended to kill the newborn king, quite literally in his infancy.
Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi (detail), tempera and oil on panel (c. 1478-1482), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Warned in a dream not to return to Herod, the Magi returned home by another route. According to the Golden Legend, when the Magi did not report back to him, Herod initially thought they had been deceived by the star and were too ashamed to face him with the news. Herod subsequently gave up the search for the child. Eventually, however, "when he heard what the shepherds had reported and what Simeon and Anna had prophesied, all his fears returned."[7]
According to Saint Matthew, "When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 'A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.'"[8]
Courage and Callousness
In his study From Criminal to Courtier: The Soldier in Netherlandish Art, 1550-1672, David Kunzle explains that the Massacre of the Innocents became an increasingly popular subject in art in the 13th and 14th centuries.[9] Over time, two "non-biblical, legendary embellishments" crept into depictions of the event, altering the way the massacre was perceived. The first, which lent "both realism and political edge" to such scenes, was the portrayal of mothers fiercely resisting the slaughter of their children.[10] The second was the inclusion of Herod himself, callous and dispassionate amidst the carnage.
Works by artists such as Cornelius van Haarlem and Peter Paul Rubens attempt to portray some of the confusion, anguish, and brutality that surrounded the massacre. In these depictions, the mothers of the Holy Innocents desperately interpose themselves between Herod's soldiers and the helpless children of Bethlehem. They claw at the soldiers, tearing their faces and gouging their eyes. They frantically shield their children, but to no avail. Pale, lifeless corpses already litter the landscape.
Kunzle notes that though not mentioned in the Bible, the resistance of the mothers "is surely as natural as the grief."[11] He further comments that their resistance may have been an "indictment of those unnatural mothers who instead of trying to protect their children like the mothers of Bethlehem . . . abandoned, killed or aborted them, crimes increasingly common and increasingly severely punished in the 16th century, after being more or less winked at in earlier centuries."[12]
In contrast, Herod is commonly portrayed as a cold, detached observer of the events. Often, he is shown seated on a high throne,"ordaining the massacre."[13] The position, Kunzle argues, emphasizes Herod's pride and arrogance.[14] In Matteo di Giovanni di Bartolo's The Massacre of the Innocents, for example, Herod is portrayed as a large figure with a crown, peering down from a throne from which he calmly directs the violence below.[15] Sometimes, Herod is also depicted with counsellors, whose presence, Kunzle suggests, "gives the order to massacre the colour of a deliberate act of state rather than a furious personal impulse."[16] Herod has also been known to be accompanied by a pig.
Reliquary Shrine with Scenes from the Life of Christ (detail), champlevé enamel on copper (c. 13th century), Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland. At right, Herod sits enthroned, his arm raised, while the devil whispers in his ear.
Herod's Pig
"Those who kill, get killed," Kunzle tells us.[17] "Killers of sons get killed by sons."[18] Unsurprisingly, then, Herod's barbarous order did not go unpunished. We learn from the Golden Legend that one of Herod's infant sons had been "given to a woman in Bethlehem for nursing" and consequently was slain with the Holy Innocents during the massacre.[19] On hearing this, the emperor August allegedly remarked, "I had rather be one of Herod's pigs than sons."[20] Apparently, this comment inspired one 15th-century artist to insert a pig into a version of the Massacre of the Innocents.[21] I am not aware of other such pigs loitering about similar depictions of the event, however.
The First Christian Martyrs
The Holy Innocents are considered the first Christian martyrs, and as martyrs, they are sometimes shown holding palm branches, a common symbol of martyrdom.[22] It is unclear, though, how many children may actually have been killed in the massacre. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "The Greek Liturgy asserts that Herod killed 14,000, the Syrians speak of 64,000, [and] many medieval authors of 144,000," a number apparently derived from the Book of Revelation.[23] However, considering the parameters of Herod's order—to kill "all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under"—the number of dead would likely have been far more modest than any of these estimates. In her book Saints in Art, Rosa Giorgi suggests the number killed may have been around twenty.[24]. Giorgi notes that "images of this episode have traditionally been more focused on the atrocious violence and mothers' anguish than the number of casualties."[25]
Mount Saint Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery (Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America), Washington, DC, USA
The Relics of Saint Innocent
The Catholic Encyclopedia identifies a number of churches that purportedly possess relics of Holy Innocents. These churches include the Abbey of Saint Justina (Abbazia di Santa Giustina) in Padua, Italy; Saint Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore) in Rome, Italy; Lisbon Cathedral (Sé de Lisboa) in Lisbon, Portugal; and Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano) in Milan, Italy. The Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls (Basilica Papale San Paolo fuori le Mura) in Rome also claims to possess relics of the Holy Innocents, and an apsidal mosaic in the church depicts five of the Holy Innocents as young boys, dressed in white, bearing palm branches. A curious monastery in Washington, DC, also lays claim to a link to the Holy Innocents, though not through relics like those of the churches described above.
Descending into the fake catacombs of the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America, in the Brooklands neighborhood of Washington, DC, is slightly unsettling. After shuffling down a set of stairs and under an arch labeled "Nazareth," one first encounters a gleaming, marble replica of the shrine of the Annunciation in Nazareth before continuing into the "catacombs." The experience is perplexing, like drinking a German beer in the Germany Pavilion at Disney's Epcot Center. Still, there is a certain allure to place. It is air-conditioned and dust-free, and not particular creepy—until one happens on the body of a small boy, encased in glass, resting serenely on red silk cushions.
Relics of Saint Innocent, Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America, Washington, DC
The boy is crowned with a golden wreath, above which hovers a golden halo. His head is tilted slightly to the right and a gentle smile plays across his pale, waxen face. He wears a white silken tunic, which is bejeweled around the neck, and a red ribbon hangs loosely about his waist. His hands and feet are covered in golden gauze, and his left hand, crumpled loosely into a fist, rests atop his body cradling a palm branch.
Saint Innocent's hands are visible through the gauze covering his hands. The palm frond tucked beneath his left hand is a symbol of martyrdom.
The boy is Saint Innocent (Saint Innocentius), a boy no older than eight years, who was apparently killed during the Roman persecutions of the 2nd century. Near his body, a sign explains that he was "buried in the Catacombs of St. Callistus for several centuries" before his relics were removed to a chapel in Hinsdale, Illinois, and then subsequently transferred to Washington, DC. The sign further states that a phial of the boy's blood, an indicator of martyrdom, was also found with the body along with an inscription that read "Innocentius in pace," or "Innocent resting in peace." The phial found in the catacombs is now stored in the glass reliquary case with the saint's body. Lastly, the informational sign explains that "[w]hile the skull [of Saint Innocent] has been covered with a beautiful wig, the hands and feet are covered only with gold gauze, thus permitting the bones to be seen easily."
Saint Innocent is not a Holy Innocent, but he serves as a representative of all those who, as the Golden Legend states, were "innocent in their lives and upright in faith."[26] Recognizing this symbolic connection, another sign above Saint Innocent's reliquary reminds visitors that December 28th is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, a day of remembrance of Christianity's young, first martyrs.
Interior of the Mount Saint Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery (Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America), Washington, DC, USA
[1] William Shakespeare, Henry V, III, iii, 27-41.
[2] Jacobus de Voragine, 1 The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints 56 (William Granger Ryan trans., 1993).
[3] The feast is first mentioned in the Leonine Sacramentary of about 485.
[4] Matthew 2:2.
[5] Golden Legend, supra note 2, at 57.
[8] Matthew 2:16-18.
[9] David Kunzle, From Criminal to Courier: The Soldier in Netherlandish Art 1550-1672 (2002), at 35.
[11] Kunzle, supra note 9, at 46.
[13] Id. at 38.
[15] Painted circa 1480-1490, the work is located at the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.
[19] Golden Legend, supra note 2, at 58.
[20] Kunzle, supra note 9, at 40 (quoting Macrobius). However, this quip may relate to a different event altogether. The Golden Legend states Augustus made these remarks after learning that Herod had deliberately ordered the death of two of his sons. In response, the Golden Legend quotes Augustus as saying, "I would rather be Herod's swine than his son, because he spares his swine but kills his sons." Golden Legend, supra note 2, at 58.
[21] Kunzle, supra note 9, at 40-41.
[22] See, e.g., Albrecht Classen, Childhood in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: The Results of a Paradigm Shift in the History of Mentality 123 (2005) ("The Holy Innocents became the first Christian martyrs because of their chronological and geographical proximity to Christ and because they died in his stead."); Rosa Giorgi, Saints in Art 167 (Stefano Zuffi ed. & Thomas Michael Hartmann trans., 2002). In Ruben's Massacre of the Innocents at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, Germany, angels from heaven tumble to earth bearings crowns of martyrdom instead.
[23] 7 Catholic Encyclopedia 420 (Charles G. Herbermann et al., eds 1910). The verse from Revelation cited in the text above reads, "And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." Revelation 14:3.
[24] Giorgi, supra note 23, at 167.
18 Thursday Dec 2014
Posted by thereliquarian in Textile
Aachen, Croatia, Dubrovnik, Germany, Magi, Marienschrein, relic, reliquary, Saint Joseph, Saint Mary, swaddling clothes
Giorgione, The Adoration of the Shepherds, oil on panel (1477), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
The Swaddling Clothes
One of the more remarkable relics on display in the Reliquary Treasury of Dubrovnik Cathedral is the "diaper" of Jesus. The relic is displayed in a bulky silver reliquary, profusely ornamented with winged figures, clunky arabesques, and other decorative accents.[1] While most translations into English describe the relic as a "diaper" or "diapers," it could more accurately be described as the "swaddling cloth" or "swaddling clothes" of Jesus.[2]
Veneration of Jesus' swaddling clothes is more frequently associated with Aachen, Germany, where a more famous set of swaddling garments has been kept since the 13th century. Housed in the golden Shrine of Saint Mary (Marienshrein) at Aachen Cathedral, the swaddling clothes (Windel Jesu) were rarely put on public display prior to the 14th century.[3] Since then, the relic has been exhibited in Aachen approximately every seven years.[4] In comparison, the swaddling clothes kept at Dubrovnik Cathedral are regularly displayed in the cathedral's astonishing treasury of saintly relics.
Marienschrein (Shrine of Saint Mary), gold (1230-1239), Aachen Cathedral, Aachen, Germany
In a paper on Jesus' swaddling clothes, Sophie Oosterwijk explains that since antiquity, "medical tradition held that the newborn child might develop deformed limbs if left unswaddled; therefore, swaddling clothes were considered absolutely essential not just for ordinary infants but also for the Christ child."[5] Consequently, until about the 14th century, depictions of the Nativity commonly showed the infant Jesus tightly swaddled, his face serene in a cloth cocoon.[6]
Some paintings of this period, however, show the infant Jesus unswaddled, presumably mere moments after his birth. According to one tradition, Jesus' struggling parents were forced to reuse Joseph's hose, the only extra cloth they had at hand, as makeshift swaddling clothes.[7] Paintings inspired by this story frequently portray Joseph removing his shoes and stockings or ripping his hose into strips as Mary waits nearby. "Mary, take my hose and wind your dear baby in them," Joseph tells Mary in an early 15th century Nativity painting from a church in Lezignan.[8] In another, Joseph seated on the ground with one bare foot extended, carefully cuts his hose into strips with a knife while a recumbent Mary watches from a mattress.[9] Rogier van der Weyden's famous Columba Altarpiece has also been tied to this tradition, though Joseph's stockings are portrayed more subtly: two squares of cloth laid in Jesus' manger have been interpreted as Joseph's repurposed hose.[10]
Joseph Malouel?, Nativity, oil on tempera (c. 1400), Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp, Belgium (courtesy Wikimedia Commons). Here, Joseph can be seen cutting one of his stockings with a knife as Mary watches and the infant Jesus waits in a manger.
As Oosterwijk observes, the tradition of Joseph and his hose "illustrates the medieval need to explain the details of the Virgin's reported confinement far away from the comfort of a regular nursery . . . , thus emphasizing Christ's humility. Instead, it is Joseph in his role of the family provider, rather than that of a natural father, who finds the solution for the lack of swaddling clothes by donating his own hose to cover the newborn Christ with in the cold winter night."[11]
Adoration of the Magi (panel detail), Columba Altarpiece, oil on oak (c. 1455), Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany. The two squares of cloth padding the manger at left have been interpreted as Joseph's hose.
God and Man
A curious book titled Excrement in the Late Middle Ages further explores the history and deeper theological meaning of Jesus' swaddling clothes. As the author, Susan Signe Morrison, notes, while stories about the baby Jesus's swaddling clothes may seem "obscene or blasphemous," they were, in fact, "produced within the confines of the sacred."[12] Miracles associated with Jesus' swaddling clothes were described in the First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ — a work condemned as heretical in the fifth century — and in stories describing the return of the Wise Men to their home countries.
Returning to the Christmas story as told in Luke 2:12, Morrison explains that Jesus's swaddling clothes were provided "not just to keep him warm or to bind him in an imitation of the closeness of the womb."[13] Rather, "[t]he clothes clearly perform a key function: to collect the filth the human baby ejects."[14] Morrison further explains that the "enfleshing of Christ is both most sacred (he became man to save us) and most profane (he took on the flesh that emits filth for us)." Morrison concludes, "To be human is to eat; to be fully human, God must digest just as a human does. As Tertullian argued, by taking on the filthy human body, Christ signals his profound humility and compassion. God has divested himself of his omnipotence; what more overt way to do this than to become a helpless, wriggling, filthy infant, utterly dependent upon others for nourishment, shelter, and personal hygiene?"[15]
Bernardino Luini, The Madonna of the Carnation, oil on panel (c. 1515), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
[1] See, e.g., Ante Dračevac, La Cathedrale de Dubrovnik 50 (Françoise Kveder trans., 1988). Dating to the 16th century, the reliquary is the work of local Dubrovnik metalsmiths. Id.
[2] For example, an older guide to the cathedral, translated into French and no longer in print, describes the relic as "des langes de Jésus." Id.
[3] Joan Carroll Cruz, Relics 23 (1984).
[5] Sophie Oosterwijk, The Swaddling-Clothes of Christ: A Medieval Relic on Display, 13 Medieval Life 25-30 (2000).
[6] See id. at 25.
[7] Incidentally, Saint Joseph's hose is also purportedly stored in the Marienshrein, along with Jesus' swaddling clothes, the robe of Saint Mary, and the beheading cloth of Saint John the Baptist. Photographs of all four relics, which comprise the four great relics of the Marienschrein, can be found here.
[8] Gail McMurray Gibson, "St. Margery: The Book of Margery Kempe," in Equally in God's Image: Women in the Middle Ages 152 (Julia Bolton Holloway et al., eds., 1990).
[9] The painting is the Nativity panel of a polyptych by an unknown artist, possibly Jean Malouel, painted c. 1400.
[10] See, e.g., Oosterwijk, supra note 5, at 28.
[12] Susan Signe Morrison, Excrement in the Late Middle Ages: Sacred Filth and Chaucer's Fecopoetics 92 (2009).
[15] Id. (internal citations omitted).
Saint Anthony of Padua: Patron Saint of Lost Things
Germany, incorrupt, Italy, Maryland, Michael Wolgemut, Padua, relic, reliquary, Rottweil, Saint Anthony, Saint Bartholomew, Saint Francis, Saint Nicolaus, Veit Stoss
Reliquary of Saint Anthony, the Shrine of Saint Anthony, Ellicott City, Maryland, USA
Discovering Saint Anthony
We stopped in Rottweil, Germany, on a whim, drawn by its distinctive name and apparent connection to the Rottweiler, a famous breed of dog. We spent the morning in leisurely exploration before we eventually found our way to the Church of the Holy Cross (Heilig Kreuz Münster) near the commercial center of Rottweil. Built in 1230-1534, the church features a triple nave, intricate network vaults, and very fine examples of late Gothic wood carving, including an altar of Saint Bartholomew by Michael Wolgemut and a crucifix attributed to Veit Stoss. In the south transept of the church, an altar steeped in late morning light drew our attention. Stoical saints bearing burnished objects — a golden chalice here, a large knife there — beckoned us to peer closer, to gaze, to contemplate.
Altar with Saints, Church of the Holy Cross, Rottweil, Germany
Meanwhile, several yards away, tucked in a dim corner by an exit, stood a modest sculpture: the humble figure of a friar in Franciscan robes. We initially overlooked the statue amidst the many carvings and altars of the church, but once we noticed it, something about the image's unassuming bearing invited us to linger.
"What did you lose?" An older gentleman suddenly asked as he edged by us and dropped a few coins in a collection box near the statue.
"Nothing," we answered hesitatingly. "Why do you ask?"
"You were staring at Saint Anthony, so I thought you must have lost something." he replied. "I lost my glasses this morning, and I looked everywhere for them, but I couldn't find them. So I prayed to Saint Anthony, and I found them!" At this, he raised a pair of spectacles as if in a triumphant toast. "I came here to thank the saint with an offering. If you've lost something, you should pray to Saint Anthony!"
Altar of Saint Nicolaus, Church of the Holy Cross, Rottweil, Germany
Patron Saint of Lost Things
It is unclear how Saint Anthony became a patron saint of lost items or lost things. The Lives of the Saints suggests his patronage may be traced to a miracle recounted in the Chronica XXIV Generalium (No. 21).[1] The Lives of the Saints sums up the story as follows: "A novice ran away and carried off a valuable psalter St Antony was using. He prayed for its recovery and the novice was compelled by an alarming apparition to come back and return it."[2]
As the gentleman we encountered in Rottweil demonstrated, the saint's reputation as a finder of lost or stolen things has only grown since the incident of the lost psalter. Writing in Saint Anthony of Padua: His Life, Legends, and Devotions, Norman Perry explains, "Nearly everywhere, Anthony is asked to intercede with God for the return of things lost or stolen."[3] Perry notes that "[t]hose who feel very familiar with him might pray, 'Tony, Tony, turn around. Something's lost and must be found.'"[4] A number of other prayers for the recovery of lost objects are also popular — for those on less familiar terms with the saint.
Church of the Holy Cross, Rottweil, Germany. A carved crucifix attributed to Veit Stoss is visible at the center of the photograph, behind the main altar.
The Sermon to the Fishes
During his lifetime, Saint Anthony was famous for his preaching. As The Lives of the Saints explains, he had all the requisite qualifications of a great preacher: "learning, eloquence, great power of persuasion, a burning zeal for souls and a sonorous voice which carried far."[5] His talent for preaching, however, was discovered by accident. According to legend, he was called to deliver a sermon at the last minute during a ceremony attended by a number of Dominican and Franciscan friars. "Through some misunderstanding none of the Dominicans had come prepared to deliver the customary address at the ceremony, and as no one among the Franciscans seemed capable of filling the breach St Antony, who was present, was told to come forward and speak whatever the Holy Ghost should put into his mouth."[6] Saint Anthony dazzled the crowd with his knowledge and eloquence, and he was subsequently assigned to preach throughout Lombardy and northern Italy.
As talented an orator as he was, however, Saint Anthony did not always immediately succeed in his mission. In the ancient city of Rimini on the Adriatic, for example, Saint Anthony struggled to convert the city's recalcitrant, unsympathetic population. "He preached unto them for many days and disputed with them of the faith of Christ and of the Holy Scriptures; but they as men hard of heart and obstinate, would not even listen to him."[7] Undeterred, Saint Anthony chose to deliver a sermon nearby, to a different, though somewhat untraditional, audience. Standing on the bank of a river near the sea, Saint Anthony began to "speak unto the fishes, as a preacher sent unto them of God."[8]
Miraculous Draught of Fishes (detail), Jacopo Bassano, oil on canvas (1545), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Although this painting does not depict Saint Anthony's Sermon to the Fishes, I imagine the fish peeking their heads out of the water as in this painting of the miraculous catch of fish.
"Hear the word of God, ye fishes of the sea and of the river, since the infidel heretics refuse to hear it," he declared. Soon thereafter, "there came to him to the bank so vast a multitude of fishes, big, little and of middling size, that never in that sea or in that river had there been so great a multitude."[9] All of them "held their heads out of the water" and all "gazed attentively on the face of St. Antony, abiding there in very great peace and gentleness and order."[10] As Saint Anthony spoke, the fish opened their mouthes, bowed their heads, and made other signs of reverence. As Saint Anthony continued to preach, even more fish began to arrive.[11]
This unusual sermon did not go unnoticed. "To see this miracle the people of the city began to run thither, and among them came also the heretics aforesaid; who, beholding so marvelous and clear a miracle, were pricked in the hearts, and all cast themselves at the feet of St. Antony to hear his words."[12] While Saint Francis is often remembered for preaching to the birds, Saint Anthony is frequently remembered for this miracle, his incredible Sermon to the Fishes. Perhaps he had a burning zeal for sole as well as souls!
The Shrine of Saint Anthony
The Shrine of Saint Anthony rests atop a modest hill, surrounded by bucolic farms and woodland, in rural Howard County, Maryland, USA. Modeled after the Sacro Convento in Assisi, Italy, the shrine at first seems out of place in the American countryside. Something about the shrine's monasterial silhouette, however, can feel familiar in the heat of a midsummer afternoon, against an azure sky.
Courtyard of the Shrine of Saint Anthony, Ellicott City, Maryland, USA
Construction of the Shrine of Saint Anthony began in 1930 and was completed a year later, in 1931. Built on land once owned by Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the American Declaration of Independence, the shrine features over 200 acres of grounds and walking trails. The shrine also houses a first class relic of Saint Anthony: a small piece of skin donated to the shrine by the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua in 1995.[13]
Chapel of the Relic of Saint Anthony
The chapel containing the relic of Saint Anthony is located at the rear of the shrine, near a side parking lot. The relic itself is stored in a small reliquary that has, in turn, been incorporated into a golden statue of Saint Anthony. The statue depicts the saint from the waist up against a background of leaping flames. His right hand is raised in blessing, and his left hand grasps a book, a common attribute of the saint, which he holds horizontally. More flames spring from the book, and at the center of the fire rests a modest reliquary containing a small sample of Saint Anthony's skin.
Reliquary of Saint Anthony, close-up of relic, the Shrine of Saint Anthony, Ellicott City, Maryland, USA
The reliquary appears to be identical to another reliquary containing the saint's skin that I once examined in Krakow, Poland. Located at the Archdiocesan Museum in Krakow, that reliquary was not incorporated into a larger display but was, rather, exhibited along with other reliquaries in a simple, museum-style glass case. Presumably, that relic was also a gift of the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua, which probably uses identical casings to house relics given as devotional gifts to other institutions.
Relic of Saint Antoni Padewski (Saint Anthony of Padua), silver and gold plate, Archdiocesan Museum, Krakow, Poland
Saint Anthony in Art
In art, Saint Anthony is most commonly portrayed as a Franciscan friar carrying either a book, a white lily, the baby Jesus, fire, or a burning heart.[14] He may also be shown with a flowered cross, a book pierced by a sword, a fish (evoking his Sermon to the Fishes), or a kneeling donkey or mule.[15] The symbol of the donkey derives from a story concerning a heretic from Toulouse (sometimes the city is Rimini) who refused to acknowledge Christ's presence in the Eucharist unless he witnessed his donkey kneel before the Sacrament.[16] In one version of the story, as Saint Anthony was delivering the Eucharist to a dying man elsewhere in the city, he encountered the man's donkey on the street. The donkey dutifully bowed its head and knelt before the Eucharist for everyone to see.[17]
Miracle of the Mule, Shrine of Saint Anthony, Ellicott City, Maryland, USA. This statue group is located on the grounds of the Shrine of Saint Anthony. A mule or donkey kneels before the Eucharist, held aloft by Saint Anthony in a monstrance.
White lilies signify Saint Anthony's purity, and in many parts of the world, lilies are blessed on the Feast of Saint Anthony, the 13th of June. Meanwhile, the image of Saint Anthony with the Christ child has apparently evolved over time. In earlier depictions of Saint Anthony with the Christ child, Jesus may be shown on the pages of a book, rising out of a book, or standing directly on a book in Saint Anthony's hands. During the 17th century, artists began to portray the Christ child as fully emerged from the book and often placed him physically in the saint's arms.[18] The image of the Christ child in or on a book (usually the Bible) likely represents the incarnation of the word of God, and Saint Anthony's association with the visual metaphor is not surprising. Saint Anthony often preached about the Incarnation and helped spread the Incarnate Word of God in his celebrated sermons.[19]
Today, Saint Anthony continues to be remembered for his great learning and his prodigious talent as a preacher. In 1946, Pope Pius XII declared the saint a doctor of the church — officially, a "Doctor of the Gospel."[20] Meanwhile, his incorrupt tongue is kept in a crystal urn in the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua (Basilica Pontificia di Sant'Antonio di Padova) in Padua, Italy.
Saint Anthony of Padua, Vincenzo Foppa, oil (?) on panel (1495/1500), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Here, Saint Anthony carries two of his common attributes: a white lily and a book.
[1] 3 Butler's Lives of the Saints 536 (Herbert J. Thurston, S.J. & Donald Attwater eds., 2d ed. 1956).
[3] Saint Anthony of Padua: His Life, Legends, and Devotions 64 (Jack Wintz ed., 2012).
[7] The Little Flowers of St. Francis 101 (W. Heywood trans., 1906).
[11] Id. at 102.
[13] The Shrine of St. Anthony: A Ministry of the Conventual Franciscan Friars (n.d.).
[14] Rosa Giorgi, Saints in Art 38 (Stefano Zuffi ed. & Thomas Michael Hartmann trans., 2002).
[18] Jack Wintz, "Why St. Anthony Holds the Child Jesus," in Saint Anthony of Padua: His Life, Legends, and Devotions 36 (2012).
[19] Id. at 38-39.
[20] Wintz, supra note 18, at 38.
The Marienschrein at Aachen Cathedral: Reliquary of the Cloak of the Virgin Mary
Posted by thereliquarian in Art History, Metal Reliquary
Aachen, Chartres, cloak, Germany, Marienschrein, Nuremberg, relic, reliquary, Saint Mary, stained-glass window, textile, Virgin Mary
The Alba Madonna, Rafael, oil on panel transferred to canvas (1510), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Virgin in a Blue Dress
In his superb book on Christian symbolism, Signs and Symbols in Christian Art, George Ferguson writes, "No other figure, except that of Christ Himself, was so often portrayed in Renaissance art as the Virgin Mary."[1] Ferguson further notes that Saint Mary was traditionally painted wearing blue, the color of truth and a symbol of the sky, heaven, and heavenly love.[2] But did the historical Saint Mary actually wear blue? Evidence preserved in various shrines suggests the Virgin's blue wardrobe may have been an invention of Medieval and Renaissance artists. These artists expressed their devotion to the Virgin by using a very scarce and very expensive pigment to paint her garments. The pigment, known as ultramarine, was a deep, celestial blue.
Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome and Saint John the Baptist, Cima da Conegliano, oil on panel (1492-1495), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
The Marienschrein and the Four Great Relics of Aachen
The Marienschrein, or Shrine of Saint Mary, at Aachen Cathedral in Aachen (Aix-La-Chapelle), Germany houses four great relics: the cloak of Saint Mary, the swaddling clothes of the infant Jesus, the beheading cloth of Saint John the Baptist, and the loincloth worn by Jesus at his crucifixion. The relics were rarely displayed publicly before the 14th century; however, since about the mid-14th century, the relics have been removed from the shrine approximately every seven years for public veneration.[3]
I am unsure exactly what color the relic of Saint Mary's cloak is, or appears to be, today. Judging by a picture of the garment taken when it was last displayed in 2007, the cloak appears to be flaxen in color, or yellowish gray, with possible hints of light blue along its hem. It is certainly not the deep blue favored by Renaissance artists, though perhaps it has faded significantly over time. Or perhaps it was never blue to begin with. [NOTE: See update below for additional information.]
One other clue to what color Saint Mary may have worn during her lifetime is preserved 300 miles southwest of Aachen, at Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France. One of the cathedral's most famous stained-glass windows, a 12th-century window known as Notre Dame de la Belle Verrière (Our Lady of the Beautiful Glass), depicts the Virgin and Child in a sedes sapientiae (seat of wisdom) arrangement with the Christ Child seated on the lap of the Holy Mother. Victoria Finlay, in her engaging study of color and pigments, Color: A Natural History of the Palette, suggests the window shows the Virgin Mary in a blue veil.[4] "The veil," she writes, "is a pale color, light enough to allow the sun to flood through and depict the young woman's purity."[5] However, "it is unmistakably light blue, and worn over a blue tunic."[6] She further notes that the glass-makers who created the window in 1150 "would have had the 'real' veil to model their design on, which is curious, because when you see the precious relic in its gold nineteenth-century box . . . it is not blue at all. More of an off-white: the faded clothing of the melancholy mother of a martyr."[7]
The Madonna of the Stars, Jacopo Tintoretto, oil on canvas (second half of the 16th century), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
A Blue More Precious Than Gold
If the Virgin Mary did not wear blue, why did artists regularly paint her in blue garments? Victoria Finlay offers several insights. First, she explains that Saint Mary did not always wear blue in artistic representations. In Russian icons, for example, the Virgin Mary more commonly wore red, and in Byzantine art, she often wore purple.[8] On other occasions, she was portrayed in white to represent her innocence, or black to express her grief.[9] Finlay also observes that artists commonly dressed her in a manner to honor her, and their choice of color was frequently decided by cost and rarity.[10] She writes, "In fifteenth-century Holland, Mary often wore scarlet because that was the most expensive cloth; the earlier Byzantine choice of purple was similarly because this was a valuable dye, and only a few people were important enough to carry it off. So when, in around the thirteenth century, ultramarine arrived in Italy as the most expensive color on the market, it was logical to use it to dress the most precious symbol of the faith."[11]
Example of ultramarine pigment, Albrecht-Dürer-Haus, Nuremberg, Germany.
The deep, rich ultramarine prized by the artists of the Renaissance derived from lapis lazuli, an intensely blue, semi-precious stone found in only a few places on Earth. For artists such as Michelangelo, Titian, and Dürer, the only source of ultramarine was Afghanistan, a "mythical land so far away that no European . . . had actually been there."[12] Finlay notes that ultramarine was once "the most valuable paint material in the world," and artists such as Michelangelo would have had to wait for their patrons to procure it for them because they could not afford it on their own.[13] Given its tremendous cost and unquestionable rarity, then, it is not surprising that so many artists chose to clothe the Virgin Mary in ultramarine. Fortuitously, ultramarine also happens to be a serene and majestic color, one truly appropriate for the Queen of Heaven.
[UPDATE, 27 JUNE 2014.] The following description is from the Aachen Pilgrimage 2014 (Heiligtumsfahrt 2014) website: "St. Mary's robe is an ancient work of domestic embroidery. . . . It is made of naturally coloured linen and is embroidered with vertical and horizontal lines in a grid pattern. In Israel flax and cotton were only to be found on the coast and in the lowlands of Jordan . . . ." The website further notes that the dress is 153 cm long; the seam circumference is 246 cm; and the span of the sleeves is 132 cm. The Aachen Pilgrimage 2014 homepage can be found here. More information about the cloak of Saint Mary can be found here. A picture of the robe can be viewed here.
Madonna and Child, Vittore Carapaccio, oil on panel (1505-1510), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Madonna and Child, Jan Gossaert, oil on panel (c. 1532), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Virgin and Child, sandstone with traces of polychrome (c. 1325-1350), Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Madonna and Child, stained-glass window, Strasbourg Cathedral, Strasbourg, France.
Aachen Cathedral with High Altar and Pala d'Oro in foreground and Marienschrein (Shrine of Saint Mary) behind. Hanging from the vault above the choir is a wooden medallion of the Madonna and Child carved by Jan van Steffesweert of Maastricht in 1524.
[1] George Ferguson, Signs and Symbols in Christian Art 71 (1954).
[3] John Carroll Cruz, Relics 23 (1984).
[4] Victoria Finlay, Color: A Natural History of the Palette 317 (2002).
[8] Id. at 292-93.
Saint Bernward of Hildesheim: Medieval Patron of the Arts
Posted by thereliquarian in "Speaking" Reliquary, Metal Reliquary
Charlemagne, Croatia, Germany, Hildesheim, Holy Cross, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, relic, reliquary, Saint Bernward, Saint Cuthbert, Saint Oswald, Saint Valentine, Saints Cosmas and Damian, speaking reliquary, Venerable Bede, Zadar
Baptismal Font (detail), copper alloy (c. 1226), Hildesheim Cathedral, Hildesheim, Germany
Saint Bernward of Hildesheim
During the Middle Ages, few individuals did more to support and develop the arts than Saint Bernward of Hildesheim. Considered one the era's greatest patrons of the arts,1 Saint Bernward's legacy included the commissioning of Hildesheim Cathedral's monumental bronze doors2 and the construction of the abbey church of Saint Michael in Hildesheim.3 At a recent exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a number of objects commissioned by Saint Bernward, as well as other important objects from the treasury of Hildesheim Cathedral, were on display. The exhibition included several reliquaries, including a skillfully fashioned reliquary containing the skull of Saint Oswald and an arm reliquary that once held relics of Saint Bernward himself.
Saint Bernward was born to a noble Saxon family and served as the tutor of the future emperor Otto III before his appointment as Bishop of Hildesheim in 993. Hildesheim is one of the oldest cities in northern Germany, and the bishopric of Hildesheim was established by Louis the Pious, Charlemagne's heir and successor, in 815.4 During the Middle Ages, Hildesheim was renowned for its metalworking, and many of Saint Bernward's commissions would not have been possible if not for the extraordinary skill of the region's metalsmiths. As noted in Medieval Treasures from Hildesheim, the proximity of nearby mines, which provided easy access to raw materials, "gave rise to a tradition of metalworking expertise that reached its peak during Bernward's era."5
The Golden Madonna (Virgin and Child Enthroned)
Golden Madonna, gold over linden wood, (c. 1022), Hildesheim Cathedral, Hildesheim, Germany
Neither Bernward's Doors from Hildesheim Cathedral nor Bernward's Column, an imposing bronze column circa 1015 representing "the first triumphal column since antiquity," were on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but the exhibition did include other impressive examples of the metalworkers' art. The Golden Madonna, which dates to before 1022, has been attributed to Saint Bernward's patronage.6 Sheathed in gold over a linden wood core, the depiction of the Virgin and Child enthroned is one of the oldest sculptures in the round from the Latin West.7
Reliquary of the Holy Cross
Cross Reliquary, gilded silver, rock crystal, and semiprecious stones, Hildesheim, Germany (c. 1180-1190), Hildesheim Cathedral, Hildesheim, Germany.
A reliquary cross containing relics of the Holy Cross was also on display. According to legend, Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria obtained the relics from the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. On his safe return to Saxony in 1173, Henry allegedly donated the relics to the Church of the Holy Cross in Hildesheim, although no records supporting this story appear to exist.8 Nevertheless, the reliquary cross's opulent gilding and intricately hammered ornamentation, as well as its impressive array of colored gems and rock crystal, attest to the significance of the darkened slivers of wood nestled at the center of the cross.
The Ringelheim Crucifix and Hidden Relics of Saints Cosmas and Damian
Ringelheim Crucifix, linden wood and oak (c. 1000)
In addition to the Golden Madonna, Saint Bernward commissioned other large sculptures during his reign as bishop, including a striking wooden crucifix known as the Ringelheim Crucifix. Carved from linden wood and oak, the crucifix stands at over five feet tall and represents one of the most significant monumental wooden sculptures from the Ottonian period in existence today.9 Though carved as an object of devotion, conservation work conducted in the mid-20th century revealed that the crucifix also served as an inconspicuous reliquary. Concealed in a small cavity in Christ's head, conservators discovered several relics, including two stones from the Holy Sepulcher and two bone fragments, wrapped in silk, of the twin saints Cosmas and Damian.10
Reliquary of Saint Oswald and the Story of His Skull
Reliquary of Saint Oswald, gold, silver, pearls, and gemstones over wood core (c. 1185-1189), Hildesheim Cathedral, Hildesheim, Germany
A more traditional reliquary, the Reliquary of Saint Oswald, was also on display at the exhibition. Richly crafted from gold and silver and embellished with niello, cloisonné, pearls, gemstones, and recycled Roman cameos and intaglios, the reliquary is regarded as a masterpiece of medieval goldsmithing.11 The reliquary's most obvious and most striking feature is undoubtedly the gold bust of Saint Oswald placed atop the reliquary's octagonal base. The saint's eyes, finished in niello, were eerie and arresting, their blackened pupils eternally transfixed on the middle distance. Meanwhile, the saint's crown seemed remarkable for its odd fit. I later learned that the crown and its decoration were cobbled together from earlier components, including a Roman cameo prominently displayed at the crown's center.12 Apparently, sovereigns occasionally donated their own crowns to churches for reuse on bust reliquaries, although whether this happened to be the case with the Reliquary of Saint Oswald is unclear.13
The Reliquary of Saint Oswald was designed to carry the skull of Saint Oswald, and the relic is evidently still enclosed within the reliquary, wrapped in silk. Saint Oswald was a King of Northumbria who lived in the early 7th century.14 According to the Venerable Bede, Saint Oswald was killed in battle by the pagan king of the Mercians at a place called Maserfield in 642.15 The Venerable Bede observes that the extent of Saint Oswald's faith and devotion were made evident by the miracles that occurred at the spot where he died in battle.16 "[I]nfirm men and cattle are healed to this day," he reports, and as a consequence, "many took up the very dust of the place where his body fell, and putting it into water, did much good with it to their friends who were sick."17 In their enthusiasm for this holy dust, the people eventually carried away so much dirt that "there remained a hole as deep as the height of a man."18
The Venerable Bede further explains that Saint Oswald's head was originally buried in Lindisfarne. The Venerable Bede writes that after the Battle of Maserfield, the king of the Mercians commanded that Saint Oswald's head, hands, and arms "be cut off from the body, and set upon stakes."19 Returning with an army the next year, Saint Oswald's successor, Oswy, removed the slain king's body parts from their stakes and eventually buried Saint Oswald's head at Lindisfarne Abbey. A century later, Saint Oswald's head was translated to Durham Cathedral, where it was reburied with the body of Saint Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede himself.20 In 1538, however, under the authority of King Henry VIII, the relics of Saint Cuthbert and Saint Oswald were removed from their shrine and were deposited in an unmarked grave behind the high altar of Durham Cathedral.21 According to some sources, the relics of Saint Oswald were eventually destroyed during the Reformation—though perhaps his skull survived, cosseted away in an opulent reliquary.22
Arm Reliquary of Saint Bernward
Army Reliquary of Saint Bernward, silver, gold, and semiprecious stones over wood core (c. 1194), Hildesheim Cathedral, Hildesheim, Germany
The exhibition also included an arm reliquary that once held the relics of Saint Bernward. Reliquaries in the shape of body parts, also called "speaking reliquaries" (redende Reliquiare), first gained popularity in the 11th century and were intended to evoke the character of the relics they contained.23 So, for example, leg reliquaries held leg bones, and foot reliquaries held foot bones. In the Permanent Exhibition of Religious Art in Zadar, Croatia I even encountered a shoulder blade reliquary, shaped somewhat like a baby grand piano, that allegedly contained the shoulder blade of Saint Mark.24
Church of Saint Donatus, Zadar, Croatia. The church of Saint Donatus is located across the street from the convent of Saint Mary and the Permanent Exhibition of Religious Art.
In his superb study on relics, Holy Bones, Holy Dust, Charles Freeman argues that arm reliquaries sometimes served an additional purpose beyond that of mere identification. Freeman notes that after Mass, celebrants traditionally blessed their congregations before they departed.25 Freeman writes that a blessing given by a bishop "was of a much higher status [than] that by a mere priest, and congregations often felt they had been badly done by. Yet if a priest held up an arm reliquary and blessed the congregation with that, it was believed to have the same effect as if the bishop himself had been there."26 The posture of the Arm Reliquary of Saint Bernward—its right index finger and middle finger extended to heaven, its thumb curled slightly inward—suggests that it may occasionally have been used for this purpose, to deliver the final blessing. Another arm reliquary in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Arm Reliquary of Saint Valentine, likely served a similar function.
Army Reliquary of Saint Valentine, silver, gilded silver, and blue cabochon, Basel, Switzerland (c. 1380-1400), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Because of his patronage of the arts and his own reputed skill as an architect and artist, Saint Bernward is recognized today as a patron saint of architects, goldsmiths, painters, and sculptors. While the church he helped build, the abbey church of Saint Michael, may be his most conspicuous achievement, he accomplished so much more as a bishop and patron of the arts.27 As Medieval Treasures from Hildesheim states, "While many of Hildesheim's bishops endowed its institutions with extraordinary works of art, no donor was more prolific or had a more significant impact on Hildesheim's production than Bernward, the thirteenth bishop of Hildesheim."28
Cross Reliquary (detail), gilded silver, rock crystal, and semiprecious stones, Hildesheim, Germany (c. 1180-1190), Hildesheim Cathedral, Hildesheim, Germany.
Arm Reliquary of Saint Bernward (detail), silver, gold, and semiprecious stones over wood core (c. 1194), Hildesheim Cathedral, Hildesheim, Germany
Small Bernward Cross, copper alloy, gilding, and semiprecious stones, Hildesheim, Germany (c. 1170-1180), Hildesheim Cathedral, Hildesheim, Germany.
Reliquary Cross (detail), silver, gilded silver, enamel, coral, and rock crystal, Italy (the Marches), c. 1375-1400, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. This reliquary cross from the late 14th century is part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Slivers of wood can still be seen encased at the center of the cross.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
1 Metropolitan Museum of Art, Medieval Treasures from Hildesheim 6 (Peter Barnet et al. eds., 2013).
2 Id. at 11. According to Medieval Treasures from Hildesheim, the casting of Bernward's enormous and highly decorated bronze doors, now known as Bernward's Doors, was "a technological breakthrough for the Middle Ages and a milestone in the history of art." Id.
3 Id. at 7.
5 Id. at 14, 16.
6 Id. 42.
8 Id. at 86.
10 Id. Medieval Treasures from Hildesheim further notes that other monumental crucifixes similarly served as reliquaries.
11 Id. at 88.
12 Id.
13 Id. Examples of this reuse can be found at Prague Cathedral and Saint-Denis in Paris.
14 Charles Freeman, Holy Bones, Holy Dust 63 (2011).
15 Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England 123 (J. A. Giles ed., 1847).
16 Id. at 123–24.
17 Id. at 124.
20 Saint Bede, 1 The Complete Works of Venerable Bede: Life, Poems, Letters, Etc. at xcviii, xciii (J. A. Giles trans., 1843); Thomas J. Craughwell, Saints Preserved 228–29 (2011).
21 Craughwell, supra note 20, at 229.
23 Freeman, supra note 14, at 82.
24 The Permanent Exhibition of Religious Art is also more informally known as the "Gold and Silver of Zadar." Located in the Benedictine convent next to the church of Saint Mary, the exhibition includes an overwhelming and truly extraordinary collection of relics and other sacred objects, the oldest of which—a small pectoral cross—dates from the 8th century. See Ivo Petricioli, The Permanent Exhibition of Religious Art in Zadar at VIII (2004). According to Michelin, the museum itself is "[o]ne of the best museums in Croatia." Sacred Art Museum, Michelin Travel, http://travel.michelin.com/web/destination/Croatia-Zadar/tourist_site-Sacred_Art_Museum-Trg_Opatice_Cike. The Reliquary of the Shoulder Blade of Saint Mark, which is fashioned of embossed gilded copper metal plate, is estimated to date to the 13th century.
27 Medieval Treasures from Hildesheim suggests that the original structure of the church may have been preserved over the centuries "because Bernward's sainthood and supposed involvement as an architect and artist gave St. Michael's itself the status of a relic." Metropolitan Museum of Art, supra note 1, at 7.
28 Id. at 6.
Posted by thereliquarian in Music History, Tomb / Sarcophagus
cathedral, crypt, Italy, martyr, Milan, Milan Cathedral, Palestrina, relic, Saint Bartholomew, Saint Blaise, Saint Charles Borromeo, Saint Denis, sarcophagus, tomb
Sarcophagus of Saint Charles Borromeo, Milan Cathedral, Milan, Italy. The sign to the right reads, "Reliquie di San Carlo Borromeo, Cardinale Arcivescovo di Milano."
A Poem Wrought in Marble
In 1867, Mark Twain spent several months touring Europe and the Holy Land aboard the steamship Quaker City. He recorded his observations of the trip, which he later published as his first book, The Innocents Abroad, one of the great travelogues of the English language and one of the bestselling travel books of all time. Among his impressions are those of Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano), the majestic seat of the Archbishop of Milan and currently the fifth largest cathedral in the world. Milan Cathedral simply mesmerized him. "What a wonder it is! So grand, so solemn, so vast! And yet so delicate, so airy, so graceful! A very world of solid weight, and yet it seems in the soft moonlight only a fairy delusion of frostwork that might vanish with a breath! . . . It was a vision!—a miracle!—an anthem sung in stone, a poem wrought in marble!"[1]
Twain was awed by Milan Cathedral's spires,[2] its luminous windows,[3] its sculptures,[4] and its sheer mass. He called the cathedral "the princeliest creation that ever brain of man conceived"[5] and could imagine no greater church building in the world.[6] "They say that the Cathedral of Milan is second only to St. Peter's at Rome," he remarked. "I cannot understand how it can be second to anything made by human hands."[7]
Altar of San Giovanni Buono, Milan Cathedral
Nevertheless, despite his obvious and unbounded enthusiasm for the cathedral, Twain managed to devote nearly half his chapter on the cathedral to a subject unrelated to the aesthetic merits of the building—namely, saints and holy relics. In particular, he dwelt on the earthly remains of Saint Charles (Carlo) Borromeo, a former Archbishop of Milan, who was displayed in the cathedral's crypt in a "coffin of rock crystal as clear as the atmosphere."[8] "To us it seemed that so a good a man . . . deserved rest and peace in a grave sacred from the intrusion of prying eyes," he rued, "but peradventure our wisdom was at fault in this regard."[9]
Twain on Saints and Relics
Twain did not have a particularly positive opinion of saints or relics. In The Innocents Abroad, for example, he criticizes "coarse" depictions of saints as suffering martyrs[10] and he decries the veneration of relics as "Jesuit humbuggery."[11] In his book The Reverend Mark Twain, Joe B. Fulton explains that Twain questioned not only the "theological concept of a saint," but also the "aesthetic practices of martyrology."[12] Twain found "visual depictions of the saints unintentionally grotesque, using his own 'grotesque realism' to undermine their reverential seriousness."[13] In Italy, for example, Twain complained of the "huge, coarse frescoes of suffering martyrs" he found painted on the facades of roadside inns.[14] Twain, who rejected the "ideology inherent in the martyrological form,"[15] wryly noted that "[i]t could not have diminished their suffering any to be so uncouthly represented."[16] Twain was similarly disturbed by the statue of Saint Bartholomew at Milan Cathedral (pictured below), which depicts the martyr with his skin flayed. "It was a hideous thing," he wrote, "and yet there was a fascination about it somewhere. I am very sorry I saw it, because I shall always see it now. I shall dream of it sometimes."
Still, Twain complained "less about the idea of sainthood than about relics and the depictions of them."[17] To Twain, the veneration of relics was an irrational, antiquated practice, a holdover of the "peculiar devotional spirit of the olden time."[18] As Fulton observes, "[r]elics of the saints trigger comedy rather than reverence" for Twain, and relics are a frequent target of his irreverent humor in The Innocents Abroad.[19] While recounting his visit to Genoa, for example, he paused to ruminate on the multiplicity of relics he had encountered. "But isn't this relic matter a little overdone?" he begins skeptically.[20] "We find a piece of the true cross in every old church we go into, and some of the nails that held it together. I would not like to be positive, but I think we have seen as much as a keg of these nails. Then there is the crown of thorns; they have part of one in Sainte Chapelle, in Paris, and part of one also in Notre Dame. As for the bones of St. Denis, I feel certain we have seen enough of them to duplicate him if necessary."[21] (Saint Denis, pictured below from Rheims Cathedral, is commonly depicted carrying his decapitated head in his arms.)
Twain is not the only one to have expressed exasperation at the multitude of saintly relics displayed throughout Europe. A French anti-clerical cartoon from the early 1900s, for example, "reconstructed" Saint Blaise—complete with five heads, six arms, and six legs—from "authentic" bones displayed in various cities.[22] Twain's avowed skepticism of relics, however, did not preclude a certain fascination with the sainted figures who supplied them. Later in his career, in fact, Twain would actually engage in hagiography, although he arguably never really altered his view of saints, sainthood, or Catholicism generally.[23]
Twain's Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, published in 1896, is a fictionalized account of Saint Joan of Arc's life as retold in the (fictional) memoir of her page, Louis de Conte. The book's seriousness and the "air of absolute reverence" with which Twain portrays Joan of Arc represent such a stark break from his previous work that he initially published it anonymously.[24] Years later, however, Twain fully acknowledged his authorship and embraced the book as his greatest work. "I like the Joan of Arc best of all my books and it is the best," he declared.[25] "[I]t furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others; 12 years of preparation & 2 years of writing. The others needed no preparation, & got none."[26] Twain valued Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc even more highly than Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.[27]
Good Saint Charles Borromeo
Twain manifested an interest in the life of another saint, Saint Charles Borromeo, in his much earlier The Innocents Abroad. Twain described Saint Charles with reverence and admiration, characterizing him as "a good man, a warmhearted, unselfish man," even though he bristled at the way the saint's corpse had been placed on public display.[28] Inviting readers to descend with him into the crypt, under the grand altar of Milan Cathedral, he prepared them to "receive an impressive sermon from lips that have been silent and hands that have been gestureless for three hundred years."[29]
"The priest stopped in a small dungeon and held up his candle," Twain begins. He and his companions now stood in Saint Charles's tomb. Recognized as one of the great 16th century reformers of the Catholic Church, during a period known as the Counter Reformation, Saint Charles was responsible for, among other things, establishing seminaries to educate priests and ministering with great compassion to victims of the plague.[30] He was born an aristocrat and could easily have taken advantage of the ease and luxury his station afforded. Instead, he showed little interest in worldly goods and devoted his life to serving others.
Saint Charles was born on 2 October 1538 at Arona Castle on Lake Maggiore. His father, Count Gilbert Borromeo, was a "man of talent and sanctity," and his mother, Margaret, was a member of the Medici family, one of the most power and influential families of the Renaissance.[31] He received the tonsure at the age of twelve and after his uncle's election to the papacy in 1559, he served in various offices in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1563 and was subsequently appointed Archbishop of Milan in 1564.
Spires of Milan Cathedral, as seen from roof
After arriving in Milan, he immediately set to work reforming the diocese. According to Butler's Lives of the Saints, "[w]hen St Charles came first to reside at Milan he sold plate and other effects to the value of thirty thousand crowns, and applied the whole sum for the relief of distressed families."[32] Meanwhile, despite earning a considerable income from various sources, he chose to live modestly. Francis Panigarola, Bishop of Asti, recounted how he once found Saint Charles on a very cold night studying "in a single tattered cassock."[33] He said, "I entreated him, if he would not perish with cold, to put on some better garment. He answered me smiling, 'What if I have no other? I am obliged to wear a cardinal's robes in the day; but this cassock is my own and I have no other, either for winter or summer.'"[34]
St Carlo Borromeo Tended by an Angel, by Francesco Caccianiga, oil on copper (early 18th century) (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
To curb the gross abuses he discovered in his diocese, Saint Charles established strict regulations governing the clergy, who he found "lazy, ignorant and debauched" upon his arrival.[35] He also established seminaries to "remedy the disorders engendered by the decay of medieval life."[36] His broader reforms, however, were not always well received, and they created many enemies.
On 26 October 1569, a priest by the name of Jerome Donati Farina was sent to murder him while he attended evening prayers. As Saint Charles kneeled before the altar and a choir performed a motet by Orlando di Lasso—"It is time therefore that I return to Him that sent me," they sang—Farina fired an arquebus, striking Saint Charles in the back.[37] Believing himself mortally wounded, Saint Charles "commended himself to God."[38] However, as the Lives of the Saints explains, "it was found that the bullet had only struck his clothes in the back, raising a bruise, and fallen harmlessly to the floor."[39] A painting titled Farina's Assassination Attempt by Gian Battista della Rovere (Fiammenghino) located in the south transept of Milan Cathedral depicts the event.[40]
Saint Charles died many years later in Milan on 4 November 1584 at the age of forty-six. He had celebrated his last mass at Arona, his birthplace, several days earlier, and arriving in Milan, he immediately took to bed and asked for the last rights. After receiving the final sacrament, he whispered Ecce venio ("Behold, I come"), and expired. He was canonized by Pope Paul V in 1610.[41] (The reliquary, pictured left, contains a relic of Saint Charles. It is located at the Archdiocesan Museum in Krakow, Poland.)
The Vanities of Earth
Twain was clearly familiar with Saint Charles's story, and he alludes to several of the saint's virtues, particularly his generosity and his compassion, in The Innocents Abroad.[42] Twain writes, "His heart, his hand, and his purse were always open," and he imagines the saint's "benign countenance moving calmly among the haggard faces of Milan in the days when the plague swept the city."[43] In the presence of Saint Charles's corpse, however, Twain's thoughts turn to death and the impermanence of earthly things.
Relics of Saint Charles Borromeo, Milan Cathedral
The body, he states, was "robed in costly habiliments covered with gold embroidery and starred with scintillating gems."[44] Meanwhile, Saint Charles's "decaying head was black with age, the dry skin was drawn tight to the bones, the eyes were gone, there was a hole in the temple and another in the cheek, and the skinny lips were parted as in a ghastly smile!" After describing other treasures arrayed about the body, Twain declares, "How poor and cheap and trivial these gewgaws seemed in the presence of the solemnity, the grandeur, the awful majesty of Death!"[45] Saint Charles's "sermon," delivered by silent lips and still hands, was this: "You that worship the vanities of earth—you that long for worldly honor, worldly wealth, worldly fame—behold their worth!"[46]
In the end, the body of Saint Charles—the relics of Saint Charles—had greater power over Twain than perhaps he realized.
Post Script: Charles Borromeo and Palestrina, the "Savior of Church Music"
View of the Roman Forum. Palestrina's music has been called the "soundtrack" of Rome. He composed over 100 masses and 250 motets here during his lifetime.
One of the issues taken up by the Council of Trent, the 16th century Ecumenical Council convened to debate and implement extensive reforms in the Catholic Church, was the future of sacred music. By the mid-16th century, liturgical music had grown so elaborate and unintelligible in its complexity that the Council considered banning polyphonic music from the liturgy altogether. According to popular legend, Cardinal Borromeo, then a member of the Council, commissioned Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina to compose a Mass to convince the Council otherwise.[47] The result was the extraordinary Missa Papae Marcelli (Mass for Pope Marcellus). Palestrina's Mass demonstrated that polyphonic music could be simultaneously beautiful, pure, and textually clear, and it changed the minds of those on the Council, which ultimately abandoned the movement to ban sacred music from the liturgy.
In reality, Palestrina likely composed the Missa Papae Marcelli years earlier, probably in 1555, eight years before the Council of Trent sought a resolution on the fate of sacred music. Nevertheless, regardless of whether the Missa Papae Marcelli was commissioned for the purpose, Palestrina's music, and the Missa Papae Marcelli in particular, were undoubtedly highly influential in saving polyphony. As Will Durant has noted, "by its fidelity to the words, its avoidance of secular motives, and the subordination of musical art to religious intent" Palestrina's music "played a part in leading the committee to sanction polyphonic music."[48]
Milan Cathedral, as seen from roof
For a fantastic overview of Palestrina and his music, see the BBC's extraordinary series Sacred Music, series 1, episode 2, on "Palestrina and the Popes." Presented by Simon Russell Beale with music performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, the episode originally aired on 28 February 2008.
[1]Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad 124 (Signet Classic 1980) (1869).
[2]Id. ("Away above, on the lofty roof, rank on rank of carved and fretted spires spring high in the air, and through their rich tracery one sees the sky beyond.").
[3]Id. at 125 ("We loitered about gazing aloft at the monster windows all aglow with brilliantly colored scenes in the lives of the Saviour and his followers. Some of these pictures are mosaics, and so artistically are their thousand particles of tinted glass or stone put together that the work has all the smoothness and finish of a painting.").
[4]Id. at 124 (noting that the bas-relief carvings on the cathedral's doors were "so ingeniously carved out of the marble that they seem like living creatures—and the figures are so numerous and the design so complex that one might study it a week without exhausting its interest").
[5]Id.
[6]Id. at 130.
[10] See id. at 149. During his journey through Italy, Twain observed, "Here and there, on the fronts of roadside inns, we found huge, coarse frescoes of suffering martyrs like those in the shrines. Id. at 149.
[12] Joe B. Fulton, The Reverend Mark Twain: Theological Burlesque, Form, and Content 106 (2006).
[14] Twain, supra note 1, at 149.
[15] Fulton, supra note 12, at 106.
[16] Twain, supra note 1, at 149. Twain concludes dismissively, "We were in the heart and home of priestcraft—of a happy, cheerful, contented ignorance, superstition, degradation, poverty, indolence, and everlasting unaspiring worthlessness." Id.
[17] Fulton, supra note 12, at 105 (internal citations omitted).
[18] Twain, supra note 1, at 179. Twain described the veneration of relics as a belief in "the protecting virtues of inanimate objects made holy by contact with holy things." Id.
[21] Id. at 119–20. Later, while exploring Milan Cathedral, Twain is shown, among other relics, "two of St. Paul's fingers and one of St. Peter's," a "bone of Judas Iscariot (it was black)," "part of the crown of thorns (they have a whole one at Notre Dame)," and a "picture of the Virgin and Child painted by the veritable hand of St. Luke," the second he had seen. Id. at 129.
[22] See, e.g., Europski Dom Dubrovnik, Saint Blaise: Veneration Without Boundaries 21 (2012) (featuring an illustration titled "Les Reliques Authentiques").
[23] Fulton, supra note 12, at 107–08. Twain published Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, a novel about Joan of Arc, in 1896. Fulton argues that since "Twain's attitudes toward Catholicism remained negative before, during, and after the writing of the work, one must find some other, more reasonable, explanation to make sense of it. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc marks no sea change in Twain's attitudes toward the Roman Catholic Church, or indeed toward religion generally." Id. at 108.
[24] See 17 The Cambridge History of English and American Literature 29 (A.W. Ward et al. eds., 1907–1921) (2000) ("Recognizing that the book was quite out of his customary vein, Mark Twain published it first anonymously . . . .").
[27] Fulton, supra note 12, at 108 (explaining that Twain ranked Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc above Adventures of Huckleberry Finn).
[30]4 Butler's Lives of the Saints 255–62 (Herbert J. Thurston, S.J. & Donald Attwater eds., 2d ed. 1956). Butler's Lives of the Saints declares that "with Pope St Pius V, St Philip Neri and St Ignatius Loyola, he is one of the four outstanding public men of the so-called Counter-reformation." Id. at 255.
[33]Id.
[38] Id. at 259–60.
[40] See Ernesto Brivio, The Life and Miracles of St. Carlo Borromeo: A Pictorial Itinerary in Milan Cathedral (2006), fig. 11.
[41]Butler's Lives of the Saints, supra note 30, at 261–62.
[47] Will Durant, 6 The Story of Civilization: The Reformation (1957). Importantly, another major reason for the movement to ban sacred music was the realization that some composers drew inspiration for their compositions from common, often bawdy, popular songs of the day. In addition to rejecting the unintelligibility of polyphonic compositions, which regularly resorted to overlapping melodies and multiple, interwoven lines of text, the Council sought to "exclude from churches all such music as . . . introduces anything of the impure or lascivious, in order that the house of God may truly be seen to be . . . the house of prayer." Id.
"Santo Subito": The Future Saint John Paul
John Paul II, Krakow, Poland, relic, Saint Faustina, Wawel Cathedral
Pope Francis announced yesterday, 30 September, that he will formally canonize two of his predecessors, John Paul II and John XXIII, on 27 April 2014. The date falls on the first Sunday after Easter and coincides with the Feast of the Divine Mercy, a feast added to the General Roman Calendar by then-Pope John Paul II in 2000. Based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska, the message of the Divine Mercy is one of mercy and forgiveness. Pope John Paul II actively promoted devotion to the Divine Mercy and is closely associated with both Divine Mercy Sunday and Saint Faustina.
Wawel Cathedral, Krakow, Poland. Blessed John Paul, then known as Karol Wojtyla, celebrated his first Mass as a priest in the Crypt of Wawel Cathedral on 2 November 1946. A side chapel devoted to Blessed John Paul contains a few drops of the future saint's blood, displayed in a sleek, modern reliquary.
Pope Francis's choice of Divine Mercy Sunday is significant for a number of reasons. First, as noted above, Pope John Paul II is responsible for officially designating the first Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. Second, on the same day Pope John Paul II added Divine Mercy Sunday to the liturgical calendar—30 April 2000—he also canonized Saint Faustina. Pope John Paul II had previously beatified Saint Faustina on 18 April 1993. Finally, John Paul II was himself beatified on Divine Mercy Sunday, 1 May 2011, by then-Pope Benedict XVI.
Archdiocesan Museum, Krakow, Poland
Sometimes referred to as John Paul the Great, Blessed John Paul is still wildly popular and widely revered in his native Poland. The Archdiocesan Museum (Muzeum Archidiecezjalne) in Krakow houses a number of artifacts associated with Blessed John Paul, including his skis, his watch, his personal breviary, and various liturgical vestments. The room where Blessed John Paul once lived has also been restored and contains a number of objects, including Blessed John Paul's bed and his typewriter. The museum also possesses an assortment of sacred art and relics, primarily of Polish saints.
Blessed John Paul's Kama Watch from the 1950s, Archdiocesan Museum, Krakow, Poland
Breviary used by Cardinal Karol Wojtyla circa 1975, Archdiocesan Museum, Krakow, Poland
Various gifts presented to Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, Archdiocesan Museum, Krakow, Poland
Red skull cap of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, Archdiocesan Museum, Krakow, Poland
Reliquary with relic from the skin of ("Ex Cute") Saint Anthony of Padua (Antoni Padewski), silver and gold plate, Archdiocesan Museum, Krakow, Poland
Altar of Blessed Pope John Paul II, Church of Saint Florian, Krakow, Poland. The white skull cap encased in glass at the bottom of the photo once belonged to Blessed John Paul, who served as an Associate Pastor at the church from 1949 to 1951.
Interior room of the Archdiocesan Museum, Krakow, Poland
Altar of Saint Leonard's Crypt, Wawel Cathedral, Krakow, Poland. Blessed John Paul celebrated his first mass at this altar on 2 November 1946, a day after his ordination as a priest.
Posted by thereliquarian in Sculpture
basilica, dragon, Italy, relic, reliquary, Saint George, Saint Mark, Saint Theodore, Venice
Saint Theodore Arrives in Venice
He arrived in Venice from the East in pieces: a torso and cuirass, a disembodied head, a crocodile. The Sack of Constantinople in 1204 had devastated the city, but the Venetians, who had transported the army of the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople, managed to salvage an enormous horde of objects from the captured city. The Venetians systematically shipped these objects – statues, jeweled reliquaries, architectural columns, and marble pediments – back to Venice. Among the crates were several fragments of statuary that, when recombined, would become a statue of Saint Theodore, the great warrior-saint, dragon-slayer, and a patron saint of Venice.
Saint Theodore of Amasea
Saint Theodore of Amasea was a Roman recruit martyred in the early 4th century for professing his faith in Christianity. As a new recruit, he is also known as Saint Theodore Tiro, tiro meaning "recruit" in Latin.[1] Saint Theodore of Amasea is often confused with another Theodore – Saint Theodore of Stratelates, a Roman general – although most scholars believe the two Theodores were probably the same person.[2] Butler's Lives of the Saints notes that the stories relating to Saint Theodore of Amasea "cannot be relied on," although they probably refer to "a real martyr who may or may not have been a soldier."[3] Butler's Lives of the Saints continues, "So complicated and contradictory did his story become that, in order to make it less inconsistent, a second soldier St Theodore had to be posited and so we have the St Theodore Stratelates of February 7."[4] Saint Theodore of Amasea's feast day is November 9.
The first known mention of Saint Theodore of Amasea derives from a panegyric delivered by Saint Gregory of Nyssa near Saint Theodore's tomb in Euchaita, modern-day Turkey.[5] According to various legends, when Saint Theodore refused to offer sacrifices to the Roman gods along with his legion he was brought before the governor of the province to explain himself. He declared himself to be a Christian, and when asked why he would profess faith in an outlawed religion, the worship of which was a capital offense, he responded, "I know not your gods. Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, is my God."[6] He was dismissed and, according to some sources, went into the city of Amasea near the Iris River and burned down the temple of Cybele.[7] Not surprisingly, he was captured and was again brought before the Roman authorities who questioned and cajoled him, and then tortured him.[8] When he was returned to his prison cell, he was comforted by visions of angels.[9] Eventually, he was condemned to death and was burned alive in a furnace.[10]
Notably absent from these stories is any mention of dragons or dragon slaying. Why, then, is Saint Theodore frequently depicted slaying a dragon? Saint Theodore's identification as an heroic dragon-slayer may be related to the belief that by his intercession "devils were expelled and distempers cured."[11] In The Dragon in Medieval East Christian and Islamic Art, Sara Kuehn suggests that the belief in Saint Theodore's power to vanquish evil probably inspired the dragon-slaying motif.[12] Kuehn writes, "Dragon-slaying riders were progressively identified as warrior saints and can conclusively be interpreted as exercising an apotropaic or protective function."[13]
In early Christian art, Saint Theodore is often depicted with fellow dragon-slayer Saint George, although portrayals of Saint Theodore slaying a dragon predate those of his more famous companion. Kuehn states, "Among the military saints Theodore and George were predominantly associated with the miracle of dragon-slaying and often appear together. In the hagiographical tradition, Saint Theodore clearly preceded Saint George in the role of dragon-slayer."[14] Early references to Saint Theodore slaying a dragon can be traced to the late 9th century[15] while the earliest known depiction of Saint George smiting a dragon is from the early 11th century.[16] Before then, Saint George was sometimes shown killing a man rather than a dragon.[17] Other saints frequently depicted with dragons include Saint Margaret, Saint Martha, Saint Sylvester, the Apostle Philip, and the Archangel Michael (pictured in the carved sculpture, above, located at the Minster of the Holy Cross, Rottweil, Germany).[18]
Saint George and the Dragon
Incidentally, the celebrated story of how Saint George vanquished a dragon and rescued a princess was likely a later embellishment to the legend of Saint George the martyr – and one that clearly captured the imagination of subsequent generations. Most famously told in the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend), Saint George was a Christian knight born in Cappadocia who, while out riding in the province of Lybia, arrived at the city of Sylene. The city's inhabitants were being terrorized by a terrible dragon, which they attempted to appease by providing two sheep every day. When the inhabitants ran out of sheep, they substituted a human victim, who was selected by lot. On the day of Saint George's arrival, the king's daughter had been selected to serve as the sacrifice. Saint George ultimately rescued the princess, but before he would slay the dragon, the saint elicited the people's promise to convert to Christianity. This they promised, and once the dragon was killed, four oxcarts were needed to dispose of its carcass.[19]
Joseph Anton Koch, Heroic Landscape with St. George (detail) (1807). Alte Pinakothek, Munich, German.
Butler's Lives of the Saints observes that "the story of the dragon, though given so much prominence, was a later accretion of which we have no sure traces before the twelfth century."[20] The authors further comment, "There is every reason to believe that St George was a real martyr who suffered at Diospolis (i.e. Lydda) in Palestine, probably before the time of Constantine. Beyond this there seems to be nothing which can be affirmed with any confidence."[21] Although Saint George is not mentioned in the Syriac Breviarium, he is mentioned in the Heironymianum, and various pilgrims of the 6th to 8th century identified Lydda or Diospolis as the site of his relics.[22]
Arm Reliquaries, Basilica of Saint Mark
Coincidentally, the arm of Saint George was apparently one of four important relics taken from Constantinople to Venice following the sack of the city in 1204.[23] Located today in the Treasury of Saint Mark's Basilica, the Reliquary of the Arm of Saint George (pictured above, in the right foreground) features an unusual cone-shaped exterior, oval in cross-section, of silver gilt and enamel and a glass lid topped with a figure of Saint George on horseback spearing a dragon.[24]
Reliquary of the Arm of St. George (detail of lid)
A plaque on the lowest part of the reliquary case, above the stems and leaves that form the base, reads in reserve against niello, "ISTVT · EST · BRAC/HIVM · GLORIOXIS/IMI · MARTIRIS S/ANCTI · GEORGEII" ("This is the arm of the most glorious martyr, Saint George").[25] This exterior, of Venetian design, dates to before 1325.[26] The outer reliquary holds an earlier Byzantine reliquary made of silver that dates to before 1204.[27] While the dragon is likely original, the equestrian figure of Saint George is probably more modern, dating to the 16th century.[28] According to some sources, Saint George became Venice's third patron saint – after Saints Mark and Theodore – sometime following the translation of his arm to the city.[29]
Reliquary of the Arm of St. George (plaque in reserve against niello)
He Came in Pieces
As noted above, the statue of Saint Theodore arrived in Venice in various pieces, although the pieces were not, in fact, part of a single, unified work. Edward Hollis, who writes about the evolution and transformation of buildings over time in The Secret Life of Buildings, explains how the Venetians recombined disparate sculptural fragments pilfered from Constantinople to create a single, monumental statute of their patron saint.[30]
After the Venetians left Constantinople, some of the treasures they had appropriated were lost at sea and some were sold along the journey, but most of the objects arrived safely in Venice, where they were unloaded and unpacked at the Arsenale.[31] After they were evaluated by various officials, they were eventually repurposed to enhance the beauty, status, and prestige of La Serenissima. For example, building material and other decorative ornaments stripped from the churches of Constantinople were used to clothe the basilica of Saint Mark "in the borrowed raiment of vanished sanctuaries" so that "what had been an austere brick structure soon shone, and sparkled, and flashed in the sun."[32]
Hollis explains that a centurion's cuirass, a crocodile, and a disembodied head "became the body of Saint Theodore."[33] Similarly, a pair of brazen angel's wings and a lion were "welded together to make the emblem of Saint Mark."[34] Both of these new creations were hoisted atop a pair of Numidian granite columns, also taken from Constantinople, and set in Saint Mark's Square.[35] The two statutes, symbolizing two patron saints of Venice, remain in the square to this day.[36]
Antonio Canaletto, Piazzetta in Venice. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.
[1] 4 Butler's Lives of the Saints 302, 301-303 (Herbert J. Thurston, S.J. & Donald Attwater eds., 2d ed. 1956). Alternatively, Butler's Lives of the Saints suggests that the surname Tiro more probably derives from his membership in the Cohors tironum. Id.
[2] See, e.g., id.; Rosa Giorgi, Saints in Art 345 (Stefano Zuffi ed. & Thomas Michael Hartmann trans., 2002) ("Beginning in the tenth century, Theodore split into two figures in popular devotion, a general and a soldier that were really the same person.").
[5] See, e.g., id. at 301.
[7] See, e.g., Giorgi, supra note 1, at 345; Butler's Lives of the Saints, supra note 1, at 302.
[10] Butler's Lives of the Saints, supra note 1, at 302
[11] Id. (citing the panegyric attributed to Saint Gregory of Nyssa).
[12] See Sara Kuehn, The Dragon in Medieval East Christian and Islamic Art 109 (2011).
[15] Id. at 108 n.215 ("His exploit of vanquishing a dragon with a spear only appeared in the second state of his Passio Prima (dated 890) . . . ."). Kuehn also notes that the 7th century Passion of Marina of Antioch contains "antecedents" of Saint Theodore's dragon-slaying. Id.
[16] Id. at 108 n.216. Kuehn identifies the church of Saint Barbara at Soganli as possessing the earliest identifiable portrayal of Saint George vanquishing a dragon. Id.
[19] See 2 Butler's Lives of the Saints 148-50 (Herbert J. Thurston, S.J. & Donald Attwater eds., 2d ed. 1956).
[23] See, e.g. Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe 92 (Martina Bagnoli et al., eds., 2010). The other three important relics were a relic of the Holy Blood, a piece of the True Cross, and the head of Saint John the Baptist. Id.
[24] Id. The lid was originally made of rock crystal. Id.
[25] William D. Wixsom, Western Metalwork, in The Treasury of San Marco Venice 282 (David Buxton ed., 1984).
[26] Treasures of Heaven, supra note 23, at 92.
[28] Wixsom, supra note 25, at 282. Wixsom writes, "The horse and rider are probably directly based on Leonardo's designs for the Sforza and Trivulzio monuments, dating respectively 1485-93 and 1506-13, even though the theme of a rearing horse goes back to the early Florentine Renaissance sculptor, Bertoldo (1420-91), to Paduan bronzes dating around 1510, and to ancient bronzes." Id. (citations omitted).
[29] See, e.g., id.; Treasures of Heaven, supra note 23, at 92.
[30] See Edward Hollis, The Secret Lives of Buildings (2009).
[36] The statute of Saint Theodore in Saint Mark's Square, however, is a replica. The original is now located in the Doge's Palace. A sign next to statue states that the marble statue "is a fourteenth-century sculpture with an ancient armoured bust and a young man's head of different origins. . . . According to tradition, the saint's face is a portrait of Mithradates of Pontus."
The Way of Saint James: Pilgrimage to the Tomb of a "Son of Thunder"
Posted by thereliquarian in Altarpiece
Altar of the Holy Blood, altarpiece, church, Friedrich Herlin, Germany, martyr, pilgrimage, relic, Rothenburg, Saint James, Santiago de Compostela, tomb
The Way of Saint James
According to tradition, Saint James, one of the twelve Apostles, was martyred by beheading in the year 44. After the rediscovery of his relics in 814, pilgrimages to his tomb in Compostela, northern Spain, became extremely popular. Compostela even rivaled Jerusalem and Rome as a destination for pilgrim travelers during the Middle Ages. Consequently, routes to Saint James's shrine, including one through Rothenburg, Germany, crisscrossed Europe, marking the path to the saint's tomb. Today, the Way of Saint James (Camino de Santiago) continues to direct travelers to the remains of the fiery-tempered Apostle whom Jesus once called a "Son of Thunder."
Invitation to a Beheading
Saint James was beheaded in Jerusalem during the Christian persecutions of King Herod Agrippa I. According to Clement of Alexandria, Saint James's accuser was so moved by the courage and conviction James showed at his trial that he subsequently repented and declared himself a Christian. As a consequence, the man was sentenced to be beheaded alongside Saint James. As both men were led to execution, the accuser turned to James and begged for his forgiveness. According to Butler's Lives of the Saints, "St James, after pausing a little, turned to him and embraced him, saying, 'Peace be with you'. He then kissed him, and they were both beheaded together."[1]
A Tomb by the Sounding Sea
Early chronicles suggested that after his death, Saint James's remains were transported from Jerusalem to the northern coast of Spain where they were buried contra mare Britannicum, "close to the British sea."[2] The location of the tomb, however, remained a mystery until, centuries later, in about 814, the tomb was rediscovered under miraculous circumstances.[3] According to legend, a local monk named Pelayo was guided by a star to a secluded spot in the woods near the Galician coast.[4] There he discovered a marble sarcophagus that contained human bones, apparently very old.[5] Bishop Teodomir, the local bishop, proclaimed the remains to be those of Saint James, long believed to have been buried in the region. After learning of the discovery, King Alfonso II journeyed to the site to venerate the relics and ordered that a church be built on the spot. The modest church established by King Alfonso II later grew into the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the ultimate destination of pilgrims traveling the Way of Saint James.
King Alfonso II's journey to the tomb of Saint James is considered the first pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, and it set the example for subsequent generations of pilgrim travelers. Departing from Oviedo, the location of his royal court, King Alfonso II likely took the Roman road known as the Camino Primitivo to Compostela. As the popularity of Saint James's shrine grew, other routes gradually came into regular use, such as the Camino del Norte, another Roman road, which skirted the coast. By the 11th century, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela had become an international phenomenon, drawing visitors from all over Christendom and establishing Santiago de Compostela as a rival to Jerusalem and Rome for pilgrims.[6] In a paper discussing the history of the pilgrimage, Laurie Dennett opines that interest in Saint James's relics had begun to shift the "conceptual geography of Christian Europe, giving it a new pole in the west, a new focus for popular devotion, that balanced the Byzantine east with its spiritual centre at Jerusalem."[7] She further notes that "Santiago de Compostela even seemed to rival the pretensions of Rome," at least for a time.[8]
St. Jakobskirche and the Twelve Apostles Altar
The St. Jakobskirche (Saint James's Church) in Rothenburg ob der Tauber was once an important stop on the pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compostela. Known more widely as the home of the Altar of the Holy Blood, the church also houses the impressive Twelve Apostles Altar (Zwölfbotenaltar), a carved altarpiece with a painted predella and painted wings, which incorporates several images of Saint James.
View of St. Jakobskirche from the city walls.
Completed in 1466, the altarpiece is the work of Hans Waidenlich and Friedrich Herlin with carvings in the Multscher tradition by an unknown sculptor.[9] Herlin, who may have been from Rothenburg, moved to Nördlingen later in his career and is closely identified with the Twelve Apostles Altar, which he signed: "This work was made by Friedrich Herlin, painter, mcccclxvi. Saint James pray to God for him."[10]
In Carved Splendor: Late Gothic Altarpieces in Southern Germany, Austria, and South Tirol, Rainer Kahsnitz identifies the Twelve Apostles Altar as "one of the best-preserved altarpieces from the Late Gothic period."[11] Although little is known about the origins of the altarpiece, Kahsnitz speculates that it must have replaced an earlier work at St. Jakobskirche.[12]
Twelve Apostles Altar (detail)
The corpus of the altarpiece depicts the Crucifixion, with Mary (to the left) and Saint John the Evangelist (to the right) below the cross, flanking the dying Christ. Next to Mary stands Saint James wearing a pilgrim's hat decorated with a scallop shell, a symbol of pilgrimage. Two other shells dangle from his wrist, and he is shown with a pilgrim's staff, another defining attribute of the patron saint of pilgrims.[13] The other carved figures below the cross are Saint Elizabeth (to the far left), who is carrying a loaf of bread and a pitcher; Saint Leonard (next to Saint John), the patron saint of prisoners of war; and Saint Anthony the hermit (to the far right), who is shown with a bell. According to Kahsnitz, the altar was kept permanently closed following Rothenburg's adoption of the Reformation.[14] This helped preserve the sculptures and the paintings on the inner wings.[15]
Saint James appears again on Herlin's predella with a shell in one hand and a pilgrim's staff in the other. To his right, Saint Peter carries two of his traditional attributes: a set of keys and a book, which he peers into with the aid of spectacles. All twelve Apostles are represented on the predella, arranged in pairs behind a Late Gothic balustrade.[16] In addition to other paintings, the back of the predella also features a depiction of the veil of Saint Veronica: the image of Christ's face with a crown of thorns imprinted on a veil or shroud.[17]
Sons of Thunder
Saint James is often known as "the Greater" to distinguish him from Saint James, son of Alphaeus, known as "the Lesser." He was the son of Zebedee and brother of Saint John the Evangelist, and he was the first Apostle martyred. Saint James and his brother John apparently earned the epithet Boanerges, or "Sons of Thunder," on account of their "impetuous spirit and fiery temper."[18] Nevertheless, as noted in Butler's Lives of the Saints, James, John, and Peter, the Apostles "who from time to time acted impetuously, and had to be rebuked, were the very ones our Lord turned to on special occasions."[19] James, John, and Peter were the only Apostles to witness the agony in the garden of Gethsemani and were the only ones present for the Transfiguration.
Modern Pilgrims
The Way of Saint James continues to be a popular with pilgrims even today. According to the Confraternity of Saint James, an organization founded "to bring together people interested in the medieval pilgrim routes through France and Spain to Santiago de Compostela," the last several decades "have seen an extraordinary revival of interest in the pilgrimage to Santiago."[20] Once considered "one of the greatest of all Christian shrines" in the Middle Ages,[21] the route from the border of France and Spain known as the Camino Francés was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.[22]
Still, some scholars question whether Saint James ever preached in Spain and whether the remains interred at Santiago de Compostela really are those of Saint James. Butler's Lives of the Saints states, "Outside of Spain almost all eminent scholars and critical students of history answer both questions in the negative."[23] Several authors have argued that Saint James's visit to Spain is "improbable" because Saint James was martyred in Jerusalem in the year 44 and because he was "unheard of in Spain before the end of the seventh century."[24] Additionally, while it may be "quite possible that the relics recovered, after they had been lost, are identical with those which were venerated at Compostela in the middle ages, . . . the authenticity of medieval relics is always difficult to establish and in this case it is more than dubious."[25]
Nevertheless, thousands of people continue to follow the Way of Saint James to Santiago de Compostela each year. While there are "as many reasons for this revival as there are pilgrims," the Confraternity of Saint James observes that "many people make the pilgrimage at a turning point in their lives, and . . . many are helped to come to terms with personal crisis by a period of separation from all that is familiar, and the shared hardship of the road."[26]
Pilgrim's Hat, felt, silk braid, shell, bone, jet (c. 1571). This pilgrim's hat is currently on display at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany, along with a matching pilgrim's cloak and staff. The matching set of pilgrim's garb belonged to Stephan Praun III, a pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela.
Saint James the Greater, pine with paint and gilding, South German (1475-1500), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The influence of Veit Stoss, who worked in Nuremberg and Krakow, is evident in the carving of the statue's robes and face.
[2] Laurie Dennett, "2000 Years of the Camino de Santiago: Where Did It Come From? Where Is It Going?," The Confraternity of Saint James, http://www.csj.org.uk/2000-years.htm (citing martyrologies by Florus of Lyons and Usuard of St. Germaine-des-Prés). Dennett observes that "by the late 8th century, a literary tradition had developed which held that the burial place of St James lay in Spain, even if the site had not yet been identified." She further notes, "Interestingly, it was not until after the purported discovery of the tomb in about 814 that a corresponding tradition evolved concerning the Apostle's return to Palestine and death, and the transportation of his mortal remains back to Spain for burial." Id. The mare Britannicum is the present-day English Channel.
[3] See id.
[9] See Rainer Kahsnitz, Carved Splendor: Late Gothic Altarpieces in Southern Germany, Austria, and South Tirol 58 (2006). Kahsnitz explains that the sculptures "were executed by a carver from the circle around the Ulm sculptor Hans Multscher (active there from 1427 until his death in 1467). In their compact three-dimensionality they are based more strongly on Multscher's earlier works from the 1450s, at which time the sculptor was probably Multscher's pupil." Id. at 61.
[10] Id. at 58. A clever Latin inscription on the frame of the altarpiece also dates the work to 1466. It begins, "Bis duo c quoque sexagintaque sex quoque mille . . . ." Id.
[13] See George Ferguson, Signs and Symbols in Christian Art 112 (1959). Ferguson observes that the pilgrim's staff is "used alone and in combination with various other objects as an attribute of numerous saints who have been noteworthy for their travels and pilgrimages." Id. Other saints commonly depicted with staffs include Saints Christopher, John the Baptist, Jerome, Philip the Apostle, Ursula, and Roch. Id.
[14] Kahsnitz, supra note 9, at 58.
[17] See, e.g., Rosa Giorgi, Saints in Art 119 (Stefano Zuffi ed. & Thomas Michael Hartmann trans., 2002).
[18] Butler's Lives of the Saints, supra note 1, at 182.
[20] The Confraternity of Saint James, The Confraternity of Saint James, http://www.csj.org.uk/csj.htm; The Present-Day Pilgrimage, The Confraternity of Saint James, http://www.csj.org.uk/present.htm.
[22] The Present-Day Pilgrimage, supra note 20.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl