Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-9nwgx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-20T05:57:29.929Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Martyrs on the Move: Relics as Vindicators of Local Diversity in the Tridentine Church1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Simon Ditchfield
Simon Ditchfield*
Affiliation:
University of York
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Robert Bellarmine put it with his customary clarity and forcefulness when he wrote:

There is nothing that they [the Protestants] shudder at and abhor more than the invocation of saints, the cult of relics and the veneration of images. For they consider that these things constitute manifest impiety and idolatry.

It was in recognition of this pressing reality that Rome—principally via the agency of die Sacred Congregation of Rites and Ceremonies—sought to put its house in order. It did so in two main ways: on the one hand, it relaunched official saint-making—the year of the congregation’s foundation (1588) saw the first official canonization after a hiatus of over half a century. Hand in hand with this went the tightening up of canonization procedure which was to culminate in a papal bull of 1634 that remained the final word on the subject until well into this century. On the other hand, regional churches were required to submit their local saints’ offices to Rome for approval. In addition, die authentication, translation, and display of relics became subject tounprecedented regulation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 30: Martyrs and Martyrologies , 1993 , pp. 283 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

would like to thank warmly my colleague Dr Amanda Lillie for the trouble she has taken to look over this text. Her eagle eye and unfailing sense of the grammatically possible have done much to chasten my prose.

References

2 De controversiis christianaefidei (Ingolstadt, 1601), 2, p. 826.

3 The saint in question was the Spanish Franciscan missionary Diego of Alcalá (d. 1464). The previous ceremony, involving the canonizations of Saints Benno and Antonino of Florence, had taken place in 1523. For a convenient handlist of saints canonized from 1588 to 1767, see the appendix to Burke, P., ‘How to be a Counter-Reformation saint’, in the same author’s The Historical Anthropology of Early Modem Italy (Cambridge, 1987), p. 60.Google Scholar

4 Coeleslis Hierusalem cives was issued on 5 July 1634. For the text see Bullarium Romanum, 14 (Turin, 1868), pp. 436–40.

5 E.g. Copias de authenticas de cuerpos santos que se han sacado del Reyno, y otras varias escrituras pertocantes a la invención de los mismos cuerpos santos que por duplicadas se juntan en este legajo, Cagliari, Archivio Arcivescovile, MS no. 14 (1614–50), doc. no. 12, dated 9 Sept. 1640, which reveals that before a relic could be transported, it had to be furnished with two copies of the necessary document—one sealed inside the reliquary and the other attached to its exterior. Cf. Constitutiones et decreta condita in synodo diocesana Piacentina (Piacenza, 1610), pp. 23–5, for more general regulations concerning the translation of relics and their display in churches.

6 Bonfant, Dionigio, Triumpho de los santos del reyno de Cerdenna (Cagliari, 1635).Google Scholar

7 The fullest available account for what follows is Campi’s own: Campi, P. M., Dell’historia ecclesiastica di Piacenza, 3 vols (Piacenza, 1651-62), I, pp. 81 Google Scholar, col. 2–183, col. 1; 3, pp. 208, col. 1–214, col. 1. But see also Poggiali, P. M., Memorie storiche di Piacenza, 11 (Piacenza, 1763), pp. 349–53 Google Scholar. Contemporary reference to events of 1648 relating to the relics which arrived the year before may be found in the unpublished diary of Benedetto Boselli (d. 1670), Piacenza, Biblio teca comunale [hereafter BCPc], MS Pallastrelli 126, pp. 183–6.

8 Campi, Dell’historia ecclesiastica, I, p. 182, col. 1. The names of the twenty martyrs whose com plete bodies Piacenza received are given on the same page. For the list of the other eighty-eight whose relics were sent to Piacenza, see pp. 182, col. 2-183, col. I.

9 Dell’historia ecclesiastica, 3, p. 209, cols 1–2.

10 Campi had given this martyr to the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity in Piacenza for their chapel.

11 For the following account see Campi, Dell’historia ecclesiastica, 3, p. 210, cols. 1–2. Marginal printed notes to Campi’s text indicate several occasions on which acts were officially registered by the episcopal notary, Marco Antonio Parma, but extensive research in the relevant section of the Archivio notarile in the Archivio di Stato di Piacenza has failed to turn up any of the texts. Unfortunately the current state of the archive of the Curia Vescovile di Piacenza prevents my following up the matter there.

12 Dell’historia ecclesiastica, 3, p. 210, col. 2.

13 Dell’historia ecclesiastica, 1, p. 18 3, col. 1. Cf. a letter to the same effect by de’Baccarini of 3 Nov. 1645, ibid., 3, p. 211, col. 1.

14 Dell’historia ecclesiastica, 3, p. 212, col. 1.

15 See Brown, P., The Cult of the Saints: its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (London, 1981), passim.Google Scholar

16 Gallonio, A., Vita B. Philippi Neri Fiorentini… in annos digesta (Rome, 1600), pp. 76–9 Google Scholar; della Rocchetta, G. Incisa and Vian, N., Il primo processo per S. Filippo Neri, 4 vols (Città del Vaticano, 1957-63), 2, p. 323 Google Scholar; 3, pp. 262, 386. Cantino, Cf. G. Wataghin, ‘Roma sotterranea. Appunti sulle origine dell’archeologia cristiana’, Ricerche di Storia dell’arte, 10 (1980), pp. 5–14.Google Scholar

17 This was in order to demonstrate the continuity of the episcopal office with its institution in apostolic times. See the relevant passage from his 3rd Provincial Council of 1573 : ‘Episcopus, id quod vel … in ilia ecclesia bene gerenda’, in Acta ecclesiae Mediolanensis (Milan, 1582), fol. 46V.

18 The earliest complete edition that 1 have managed to track down is that of1619 (BCPc, libri pallastrelli 661), which was reprinted in 1624. For a full account of the complex details of this office book’s revision see my unpublished Ph.D. thesis: ‘Hagiography and Ecclesiastical historiography in late 16th- and early 17th-century Italy: Pietro Maria Campi of Piacenza (1569-1649)’(University of London, Warburg Institute, 1991), pp. 120–32.

19 Baronio’s work was later supplemented by Ferrari, F. in two works: Catalogus sanctorum Italiae in menses duodecim distributo (Milan, 1613)Google Scholar and Catalogus generalis sanctorum qui in Martyrologio Rom[ano] non sunt ex variis martyrologiis, Ualendariis [et] tabulis collecta (Venice, 1625).

20 Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana [hereafter BAV], MS Vat. Lat. 6416, fol. 355.

21 For a full account of this rivalry which dated from 1409, see Martini, P., Storia ecclesiastica di Sardegna, 3 vols (Cagliari, 1839-41), 2, pp. 321ff.Google Scholar

22 Relacion delos cuerpos delos santos Martires San Gavino, San Proto y San Ianuario, patrones de la Yglesia metropolitana Turritana de Sacer en Sardena y de otros muchos que se hallaron en el año de 1614 (Madrid, 1615).

23 The letters were: S INNU or SINUM. Their discovery is mentioned in all the contemporary accounts of the excavations, beginning with Esquivel, F. d’, Relacion de la invencion de los cuerpos sanios queen los annos 1614, 1615;, 1616 fueron hallados en varias yglesias de la ciudad de Caller y su Arzobispado (Naples, 1617), pp. 33–4 Google Scholar. For much of what follows I am indebted to Mureddu, d., Salvi, D., andStefani, G., ‘Sancii innumerabiles’. Scavi nella Cagliari del Seicento: testimonianze e verifiche (Oristano, 1988). An excellent survey of the contemporary sources is given on pp. 23–8.Google Scholar

24 Historiae Socielatis lesu pars sexta … auctore Julio Cordara (Rome, 1750), bk viii, pp. 444–6. Cf. Martini, G., Storia ecclesiastica di Sardegna, 2, pp. 350–1.Google Scholar

25 Actas originales sobre la inbencion de las reliquias de santos que se hallaron en la Basilica de S. Sadorro, y otras iglesias y lugares de la ciudad de Caller y su diocesis, Cagliari, Archivio Arcivescovile, MS 13. Cf. Esquirro, S., Santuario de Caller, y verdadera historia de la invencion de los cuerpos santos hallados en la dicha ciudad y su Arcobispado (Cagliari, 1624)Google Scholar. A table of concordances between all these sources is given in Mureddu, Salvi, and Stefani, ‘Sancii innumerabiles’’, pp. 109–20.

26 See above, n. 23.

27 For the most detailed contemporary description see bk v of Esquirro’s Santuario de Caller; cf. that in Sulis, F., Culto religioso dei Santi Martiri Cagliaritani provato con documenti (Rome, 1883), p. 49, n. 1.Google Scholar

28 A notarial act held at Piacenza, Archivio Capitolino di S. Antonino, MS, C. 37, dated 20 Dec. 1633, which records the donation to the chapter by the Capuchin Feliciano da Piacenza of a reliquary containing the relics of some fourteen martyrs including ‘S. Catarina mart. Calaritana’ indicates that the relics which arrived in 1643 were not the first.

29 The only account known to me of this event is described in the celebratory booklet published on the occasion of the tercentenary of their arrival: Solenni Feste per il terzo centenario della Traslazione dei Corpi Santi (1624-1924—Alassio—11-12-13 luglio 1924) (n. d., n. p.), which I consulted at the BAV, Storia, R. G. IV 11012 (int. 15).Google Scholar

30 Lilliu, R. G., ‘Reliquie sarde in terra di Spagna’, Quotidiano sardo, anno 3, no. 47, 22 Feb. 1949.Google Scholar

31 This is known to us because of the attack made on their authenticity by Geronimo Bruno in a manuscript held at Cagliari, Biblioteca universitaria: De reliauis Sardiniae anno domini 1614, 1615 et 1616 inventis Hieronimi Bruni opinio,

32 Esquirro, Santuario de Caller, bks ii-iv. Cf. Mureddu, D. and Stefani, G., ‘Scavi “archeologici” nella cultura del Seicento in Sardegna’, in T. K. Kirova, ed., Arte e Cultura del ’600 e del ’700 in Sardegna (Naples, 1984), pp. 397–406, at pp. 398–9.Google Scholar

33 Martini, , Storia ecclesiastica di Sardegna, 2, p. 563.Google Scholar

34 ActaSS Feb., i, pp. xx-xxi; Muratori, L., Antiauitates Italicae, 5 (Milan, 1741), dissertano LVIII, col. 18; Corpus inscriptionum latinamm, 10 (Berlin, 1883), pp. 779–81. According to Daniel Papenbroch (AdaSS, May, 5, p. 219) Bolland was influenced in his decision not to include the Cagliari martyrs in his collection by Cardinal Francesco Barberini, who advised him to wait for their official recognition by Rome.Google Scholar

35 Corpus inscriptionem latinamm, 10, p. 57.

36 Lai, M. Bonello, ‘Le raccolte epigraphiche del ’600 in Sardegna’, in Kirova, ed., Arte e Cultura. pp. 379–95; at pp. 385, 392.Google Scholar

37 The Congregation of Rites’ decision of 18 June 1689 confirmed that their cult could be observed throughout Sardinia only if the diocesan office was adhered to. See Martini, P., Storia ecclesiastica di Sardegna, 2, pp. 365— 6, n. I, for the text of the decision.Google Scholar

38 These were dated 27 Nov. 1637, 14 June 1638, 10 Dec. 1638, and 27 Apr. 1640. For their texts see Machin, A., Defensionis primatus Archiepiscopi Calaritani (Cagliari, 1639), pp. 227ff.Google Scholar

39 Machin, A., Defensio Sanctitatis Beati Luciferi (Cagliari, 1639). See pp. 110–11 for his deployment of numismatic evidence, and pp. 189–94 for his use of notarial documents when describing the discovery of S. Lucifero’s body. Six illustrations appear between pp. 96–7.Google Scholar

40 Acta SS, May, 5, pp. 197–225.

41 See Benedict, XIV, De servorum Dei beatificatione et beatorum canonizatione, 4 vols (Bologna, 1734-8); i, bki, ch.40.Google Scholar

42 Arnaldo Momigliano, ‘Ancient history and the antiquarian’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 13, 1950, pp. 285–315.

43 This theme is developed in my forthcoming book-length study: Historia Sacra: the Reform of Liturgy, Hagiography and Ecclesiastical Historiography in Tridentine Italy.