JULY 22: FEAST OF MARY MAGDALENE, A SAINT WITH A FOOT IN ROME

For a well-balanced presentation of Pope Francis’ motu proprio on the Traditional Latin Mass that abrogated most previous norms on this Mass, read this by Abp. Augustine Di Noia, adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/07/20/vatican-latin-mass-traditionis-custodes-pope-francis-241086

 JULY 22: FEAST OF MARY MAGDALENE, A SAINT WITH A FOOT IN ROME

This is one of my favorite feast days for a number of reasons! A few years ago I began to research Mary Magdalene’s life and story immediately after I visited the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, very close to my home, where there is a reliquary containing bones from the left foot of Mary Magdalene. I’d gone to San Giovanni a number of times before learning of the relic, principally to attend Mass and it was only one day when I decided to actually visit the church, its side altars, etc, that I discovered the reliquary! A priest there gave me a small booklet to read on the relic and that, and additional research, led me to the following story, a truly amazing tale.

San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini – St John the Baptist of the Florentines – is known as the regional church for expatriates from Florence whose patron saint is John the Baptist. There was a flourishing expat Florentine community in Rome in the mid-15^th century, featuring the bankers and artists for which the city was famous. This community was concentrated on a bend of the Tiber river where the church stands today.

San Giovanni was built for the first Medici Pope, Leo X, who started a competition for the church’s construction. Great numbers of famous artists participated in the project but the building was on-again off-again for a few centuries. Two of the most celebrated artists are buried here – Carlo Maderno and Francesco Borromini.

However, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini is most well known for its relic of bones of the foot of St. Mary Magdalene that rests in a shrine to the left of the main sanctuary.

Historians seem to agree that Mary Magdalene died and was buried in Ephesus and that, given historical vicissitudes, her body – or parts of it, what we will call relics – was brought to Constantinople, then to the south of France and, finally Rome. How the relics got to the south of France seems to be the biggest mystery – not all legends agree.

One story, in fact, says Mary Magdalene lived in a cave in the south of France where she died.

In any event, the historical account found in the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini says her body was sent by ship from Sainte Baume in Provence to Rome where her left foot was removed according to the Greek tradition that this is always the first foot that rises when you enter the after life. Her foot came to rest in St. Peter’s Basilica with other passion relics. For many years, pilgrims who came to Rome to visit the tomb of Peter would first stop to venerate the foot of St Mary Magdalene who was the first person to enter the tomb of the risen. This foot was first kept in a precious reliquary made by master silver- and gold-smith Benvenuto Cellini.

More historical vicissitudes and the foot finally came to rest in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini – but only in 1984   – where it was buried away in a closet, to be discovered only in the year 2000 when San Giovanni began work on its Museum of Sacred Art! You really want to see Mary Magdalene’s foot and the Museum next time you are in Rome.

Indeed an amazing story! And here’s another one….

The Sunday before Memorial Day 2018, after the 6 pm Mass in the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini I had one of the most moving and amazing experiences of my life. Ambassador Callista Gingrich and her husband Newt were also at this Mass and I asked them afterwards if they knew the church housed an astonishing relic – the left foot of St. Mary Magdalene.

I brought them to the shrine and explained the story, which I had recently researched for one of my “Joan’s Rome” videos. As we were about to leave, the sacristan came up to me and, with a huge smile and holding a key in one hand, asked if we’d like to see the relic up close. Well, of course we wanted to!

He opened the shrine and then – the truly amazing moment of the evening! He took the Cellini reliquary out, showed it to us and handed it to me! What is not visible when the reliquary is inside the shrine is the glass-covered opening that reveals the bones of Mary Magdalene’s foot!

Photos by Amb. Gingrich:

A close-up of the reliquary. On top of the foot is a small opening, protected by glass and suitably covered by a kind of seal, under which are the bones of St. Mary Magdalene’s foot.-

 

 

I am holding the reliquary –

 

THE BONES OF THE FISHERMAN (CONT’D)

THE BONES OF THE FISHERMAN (CONT’D)

This column is a follow-up to my July 3 column entitled, “THOSE 9 BONE FRAGMENTS THAT POPE MONTINI WANTED BY HIS SIDE,” a reference to the bone fragments of St. Peter, the first Pope, that have been in a reliquary in the papal chapel in the Apostolic Palace since Paul VI announced on June 26, 1968, “New, very thorough and very accurate inquiries were later carried out with the result that, comforted by the judgment of skillful, prudent and competent persons, we believe the following to be positive: that even the relics of St. Peter have been identified in a convincing manner for which we give praise to those who have committed themselves to very careful study with long and great effort.” (https://joansrome.wordpress.com/2019/07/03/)

In that column, I wrote that in the early years I was working at the Vatican, I had been told by a monsignor working in the Roman Curia and knowledgeable about archives, that those bone fragments were the only remains of our first Pope. I wrote that, if true, I could not believe the Holy Father had given them away!

Those were not, as I have since happily discovered, the only bone fragments of St. Peter. Others are in the scavi, the excavations decades ago that led to the discovery of Peter’s tomb and bones. What was so strange for me was that I have visited the scavi a number of times (though not in the past 10 or more years) and never remember hearing a guide telling us the saint’s bones were in a reliquary/container near his tomb. How could you forget something like that!

On July 6, Vatican news published an interview in Italian with Prof. Pietro Zander head of the Vatican necropolis office (the scavi), and head of the conservation and restoration of the artistic heritage of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the Vatican office charged with anything and everything that has to do with St. Peter’s Basilica such as building, repairing, restoring, administering, etc.

“On this box,” said Zander, referring to the reliquary that Francis gave to the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, “there is an inscription that states that it is part of the bones that were considered to have belonged to San Peter. The relics donated by the Holy Father, therefore, come from a more conspicuous group of bones that are still preserved in the compartment of the so-called ‘Muro G’ (Wall G), the graffiti wall that is located under the papal altar of the Vatican Basilica. Precisely in that place, June 26, 1968, Paul VI wanted to place as many as 19 transparent cases with bone fragments that belonged to the first Pope. Only nine fragments were then removed from this group which were taken to the private chapel of the papal apartment of the Apostolic Palace, to be available for the intentions and the will of the Holy Father.” (JFL photo)

It goes without saying that I hope to visit the scavi again and learn more about the remaining bone fragments.

I also wrote on July 3: “I think what breaks my heart is that the 9 bone fragments given to the Orthodox, prayerfully cared for over the years in a reliquary in the papal chapel, were whisked out of the Vatican without any pre-announcement, on what I dare call a papal whim. I am guessing Francis did pray over this surprise gesture, hoping it might cement relations with East and West, the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

“I would have loved – and I believe millions would have kept me company – to have seen these relics up close and personal. To pray over them, to relish the closeness to St. Peter to whom Jesus gave the Keys of the Kingdom, Peter our first Pope, our first Holy Father, a man who spent three years on earth so close to Jesus, Son of the Father!

“Would it not have been a splendid gesture to have dedicated a period of several months to a public display of these relics before they were sent off to Istanbul?!”

In the days since June 29, I have read myriad news reports and opinion pieces on the papal gift to the Orthodox Church. Tons of questions cropped up in those reports and in many conversations with people as consternated as I was about the gift (when I thought they were the only bones of Peter): Did the Pope have the right to do this (seems he did, according to Canon 1190)? Why did he not give several of the fragments now in the scavi to Bartholomew instead? Will Orthodox patriarchs other than Bartholomew I of Constantinople want to receive bone fragments? Will legitimate requests for relics arrive from Catholics?

Many mourned the idea that no Pope in the future can pray before these relics in the papal chapel as did Paul VI, probably John Paul I, for sure John Paul II and Benedict XVI. After all, as Pope, they were all Successors of Peter, Prince of the Apostles.

Read on to hear what Pope Francis told the Orthodox delegation about that papal chapel.

Lifesitenews reported on the June 29 gift of 9 bone fragments of St. Peter from Pope Francis to the Orthodox Church and quoted remarks by Archbishop Job of Telmessos, who headed the official delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the June 29 ceremony in St. Peter’s (https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-francis-gives-away-relics-of-st-peter).

Those remarks by the Orthodox archbishop were originally reported on the following website under the: ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE PERMANENT DELEGATION TO THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES https://www.ecupatria.org/2019/07/01/pope-francis-of-rome-gave-relics-of-saint-peter-to-the-church-of-constantinople/

Here is the essential part of that account:

“On 29 June, 2019, after the Papal Mass in the Basilica of St. Peter, His Holiness Pope Francis invited him (Job) to descend to the tomb of St. Peter under the main altar. They prayed together and the Pope then told him that he had ‘a gift for the Church of Constantinople’, not indicating what he intended, and invited him to accompany him to the Apostolic Palace. In the private chapel of the popes, he took the reliquary into his hands and handed it to Archbishop Job.

“When we entered the chapel,” said Archbishop Job, “Pope Francis explained to me that Pope Paul VI wanted to keep a part of the relics of St. Peter from the Vatican Basilica in his private chapel. Further, Pope Francis told him that during the prayer the previous evening he had this thought: ‘I no longer live in the Apostolic Palace, I never use this chapel, I never serve the Holy Mass here, and we have St. Peter’s relics in the basilica itself, so it will be better if they will be kept in Constantinople. This is my gift to the Church of Constantinople. Please take this reliquary and give it to my brother Patriarch Bartholomew. This gift is not from me, it is a gift from God’.”

“Archbishop Job admitted that this decision of Pope Francis was a surprise to everyone: ‘This is an extraordinary and unexpected event that we did not expect. The relics of the Holy Apostle Peter were always kept in Rome where they were the purpose of pilgrimages. The Orthodox Church has never asked for them since they never belonged to the Church of Constantinople. This time, we do not speak of a return of relics to their original place. This time, the relics are being presented as a gift. This prophetic gesture is another huge step on the path to concrete unity,’ stressed Archbishop Job of Telmessos.”

I have to be honest. I was stunned, to say the least, by the Pope’s words about the papal chapel in the Apostolic Palace, as if it too was a relic that could be discarded.

I’ve been to papal Masses in that chapel when St. John Paul celebrated the Eucharist. It is small, intimate, beautiful and conducive to being recollected and prayerful.

As I wrote for the book, “When Women Pray”: “On several occasions I was blessed to be at Mass in John Paul’s private chapel and I can only say I will not live long enough to ever again encounter a person who prayed like John Paul did. He was always at prayer when we entered the chapel and you felt instantly that he was unaware of our presence because he was totally aware of another Presence. I sensed something mystical as I watched him pray. I could almost hear the conversation he was having with God or, quite likely, his Blessed Mother whom he loved so much! Those images were seared into my soul!”

I only wish I’d known then about the reliquary!

A WELL-KEPT SECRET: ROME’S RELIQUARY WITH FOOT OF MARY MAGDALENE

I leave tomorrow for several days in Prague, the Czech Republic, a city I’ve heard is stunningly beautiful and historic and yet, in all my travels, I’ve never been there! I’ve set up some wonderful appointments and hope to do stories on the Church history of Prague and environs – the monasteries and churches,, the statue of the Holy Infant of Prague, how the church struggled to come back to life after decades of communism when churches were closed or destroyed, religious orders, banned and so on.

I’ll do my best to post something every day, however brief, but sometimes a travel schedule is literally packed from early morning to late night. I’ve spoken to my Italian cell phone provider and am assured I have enough GB in my phone to do some Facebook live posts during foreign travel – even if they too are brief.

So, stay tuned…….

Yesterday was the feast of St. Mary Magdalene which was officially declared such by Pope Francis in 2016 in the following decree: “By express wish of the Holy Father Francis, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published a decree, dated 3 June 2016, solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, with which the celebration of Saint Mary Magdalene, now obligatory memory, is raised in the General Roman Calendar to the degree of celebration.”

In May I wrote of a marvelous experience I had after a 6 pm Sunday Mass at San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, a church near my home where I have gone to Mass on a number of occasions. That special moment involved a relic for which the church has become famous and, since yesterday was St. Mary Magdalene’s feast, I wanted to re-post the story on her relic.

This church is so close to the Vatican that it really merits a visit after you’ve been to St. Peter’s Basilica, the Museums, gardens, etc.

A WELL-KEPT SECRET: ROME’S RELIQUARY WITH FOOT OF MARY MAGDALENE

I want to share with you one of the most moving and amazing experiences of my life that occurred after the 6 pm Mass last night in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. Ambassador Callista Gingrich and her husband Newt were also at this Mass and I asked them afterwards if they knew the church housed an astonishing relic – the left foot of St. Mary Magdalene.

I brought them to the shrine and explained the story (which I had recently researched for one of my “Joan’s Rome” videos – see story below). As we were about to leave, the sacristan came up to me and, with a huge smile and holding a key in one hand, asked if we’d like to see the relic up close. Well, of course we wanted to!

He opened the shrine and then – the truly amazing moment of the evening! – he took the Cellini reliquary out, showed it to us and handed it to me! What is not visible when the reliquary is inside the shrine is the glass-covered opening that reveals the bones of Mary Magdalene’s foot!

(I originally posted several photos that Amb. Gingrich sent me but can no longer find those to repost today)

I held the reliquary for dear life and slowly, prayerfully, moved one hand across the top of the reliquary. I think my breathing slowed as I held the relic! Several others were standing near us in total silence, also relishing uniqueness of the moment.

Just writing about this experience leaves me breathless again.

THE JOURNEY OF A RELIC

San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini – St. John the Baptist of the Florentines – is known as the regional church for expatriates from Florence whose patron saint is John the Baptist. There was a flourishing expat Florentine community in Rome in the mid-15th century that featured the bankers and artists for which the city was famous. That expat Florentine community was concentrated on a bend of the Tiber River where the church stands today.

San Giovanni was built for the first Medici Pope, Leo X, who started a competition for the church’s construction. Great numbers of famous artists participated in the project but the building was on-again off-again for a few centuries. Two of the most celebrated artists are buried here – Carlo Maderno and Francesco Borromini.

Only in recent years, however, has San Giovanni dei Fiorentini made a singular claim to fame: it possesses relics of the foot of St. Mary Magdalene that rest in a shrine to the left of the main sanctuary.

Historians seem to agree that Mary Magdalene died and was buried in Ephesus and that, given historical vicissitudes, her body – or parts of it, what we will call relics – was brought to Constantinople, then to the south of France and, finally Rome.

How the relics got to the south of France seems to be the biggest mystery – not all legends agree. One, in fact, says Mary Magdalene lived in a cave as a hermitess in the south of France where she died.

The historical account found in the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini says her body was sent by ship from Sainte Baume in Provence to Rome where her left foot was removed according to the Greek tradition that this is always the first foot that rises when you enter the after life. Her foot came to rest in St. Peter’s basilica with other passion relics.

For many years, pilgrims who came to Rome to visit the tomb of Peter would first stop to venerate the foot of St Mary Magdalene who was the first person to enter the tomb of the Risen One. This foot was first kept in a precious reliquary of silver- and gold-smith Benvenuto Cellini.

More historical vicissitudes and the foot finally came to rest in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini – but only in 1984! – where it was buried away in a closet with other forgotten relics and historical pieces.

Amazingly enough it was discovered only in the year 2000 when San Giovanni began work on its Museum of Sacred Art!

A WELL-KEPT SECRET: ROME’S RELIQUARY WITH FOOT OF MARY MAGDALENE

I have the day off as it is Memorial Day but I do want to share with you one of the most moving and amazing experiences of my life that occurred after the 6 pm Mass last night in the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. Ambassador Callista Gingrich and her husband Newt were also at this Mass and I asked them afterwards if they knew the church housed an astonishing relic – the left foot of St. Mary Magdalene.

I brought them to the shrine and explained the story (which I had recently researched for one of my “Joan’s Rome” videos – see story below). As we were about to leave, the sacristan came up to me and, with a huge smile and holding a key in one hand, asked if we’d like to see the relic up close. Well, of course we wanted to!

He opened the shrine and then – the truly amazing moment of the evening! – he took the Cellini reliquary out, showed it to us and handed it to me! What is not visible when the reliquary is inside the shrine is the glass-covered opening that reveals the bones of Mary Magdalene’s foot!

Photos by Amb. Gingrich:

I held the reliquary for dear life and slowly, prayerfully, moved one hand across the top of the reliquary. I think my breathing slowed as I held the relic! Several others were standing near us in total silence, also relishing uniqueness of the moment.

Just writing about this experience leaves me breathless again.

A WELL-KEPT SECRET: ROME’S RELIQUARY WITH FOOT OF MARY MAGDALENE

San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini – St. John the Baptist of the Florentines – is known as the regional church for expatriates from Florence whose patron saint is John the Baptist. There was a flourishing expat Florentine community in Rome in the mid-15th century that featured the bankers and artists for which the city was famous. That expat Florentine community was concentrated on a bend of the Tiber river where the church stands today.

San Giovanni was built for the first Medici Pope, Leo X, who started a competition for the church’s construction. Great numbers of famous artists participated in the project but the building was on-again off-again for a few centuries. Two of the most celebrated artists are buried here – Carlo Maderno and Francesco Borromini.

Only in recent years, however, has San Giovanni dei Fiorentini made a singular claim to fame: it possesses relics of the foot of St. Mary Magdalene that rest in a shrine to the left of the main sanctuary.

Historians seem to agree that Mary Magdalene died and was buried in Ephesus and that, given historical vicissitudes, her body – or parts of it, what we will call relics – was brought to Constantinople, then to the south of France and, finally Rome.

How the relics got to the south of France seems to be the biggest mystery – not all legends agree. One, in fact, says Mary Magdalene lived in a cave as a hermitess in the south of France where she died.

The historical account found in the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini says her body was sent by ship from Sainte Baume in Provence to Rome where her left foot was removed according to the Greek tradition that this is always the first foot that rises when you enter the after life. Her foot came to rest in St. Peter’s Basilica with other passion relics.

For many years, pilgrims who came to Rome to visit the tomb of Peter would first stop to venerate the foot of St Mary Magdalene who was the first person to enter the tomb of the Risen One. This foot was first kept in a precious reliquary of Benvenuto Cellini.

More historical vicissitudes and the foot finally came to rest in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini – but only in 1984! – where it was buried away in a closet with other forgotten relics and historical pieces.

Amazingly enough it was discovered only in the year 2000 when San Giovanni began work on its Museum of Sacred Art!