Category:Holy Blood (subject)

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According to Christian traditions, the Holy Blood is one of the Relics of Jesus preserved in several locations, notably, the Basilica of Sant'Andrea in Mantua [Italy], the Weingarten Abbey Church near Ravensburg [Germany], the Basilica of the Holy Blood in Bruges [Belgium], and the Cathedral of Sarzana [Italy].

Overview

The Stone of Anointing

Tradition claims that the stone located just inside the entrance the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem is the spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea. The reddish color of the stone is attributed to the stains left by the drops of Jesus' blood.

However, this tradition is only attested since the crusader era, and the present stone, framed on the floor of the Basilica and surrounded by candles and lamps, was only added in the 1810 reconstruction.

  • Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, Israel

  • The Stone of Anointment

Relics of the Holy Blood

There are three major medieval Christian traditions about the preservation of the Holy Blood of Jesus.

The Holy Blood caught by Longinus; or the Mantua-Weingarten Tradition

According to a legend, Longinus, the Roman soldier who pierced Jesus on the cross with his spear, caught some of the Holy Blood of Jesus and preserved it in a leaden box, which later he buried at Mantua [Italy]. Being miraculously discovered in 804, the relic was solemnly exalted by Pope Leo III, but again buried during the Hungarian and Norman invasions. In 1048 it was re-discovered and solemnly exalted by Pope Leo IX in the presence of the emperor, Henry III, and many other dignitaries. The relic was then divided into three parts:

(a) A first part of the relic remained at Mantua [Italy]. The relic was highly venerated during the Renaissance, when architect Leon Battista Alberti was commissioned to built the magnificent Basilica of Sant'Andrea to host the thousands of pilgrims. Today the shrines containing the Holy Blood are displayed in the Basilica only on the Good Friday, to the faithful and then brought out along the streets of Mantua in a procession.

  • The Basilica of Sant'Andrea, Mantua, Italy

  • The Vessels containing the relic of the Holy Blood

(b) A second part of the relic was taken by the Pope and brought to Rome.

(c) A third part of the relic was given to the Emperor, Henry III. Henry III bequeathed his share to Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, who gave it to his daughter Juditha. After her marriage to Welf I, Duke of Bavaria, Juditha presented in 1090 the relic to the (now suppressed) Benedictine Monastery of Weingarten near Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg [Germany] and a solemn procession was set every year to celebrate the event. The procession became popularly known as Blutritt since the relic is carried by a rider, der heilige Blutritter, on horseback, followed by many other riders, and many thousand people on foot. After the suppression of the monastery in 1802, the golden reliquary was confiscated by the Government and in 1812 the procession was prohibited. The relic however remained in a gilded copper imitation in the Abbey Church of St. Martin and Oswald which now served as a parish church of the town of Weingarten. In 1849 the procession resumed and still takes place every year on the Friday following Ascension, as a huge equestrian parade. During the rest of the year, the relic is on display in the Weingarten Abbey Church.

  • St. Martin's Basilica at Weingarten, Germany

The Holy Blood caught by Joseph of Arimathea; or, The Bruges Tradition

Another Christian legend relates the Holy Blood to Joseph of Arimathea who would have collected it when he washed the body of Jesus for burial.

On April 7, 1150 Thierry of Alsace returned to Bruges [Belgium] from the second Crusade with the relic of the Holy Blood presented to him by his cousin Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, as the reward of his great services. The relic was kept in the private the chapel of the residence of the Count of Flanders, Basilica of the Holy Blood

From that day the relic has played no small part in the religious life of the city. The solemn Procession of the Holy Blood, instituted in 1303 to commemorate the deliverance of the city, by the national heroes Breidel and De Coninck, from French tyranny in May of the previous year and which takes place annually on the Monday following the first Sunday in May, is to this day one of the great religious celebrations in Belgium, to which thousands congregate from all parts.

  • Basilica of the Holy Blood, Bruges, Belgium

  • The interior of the church

  • The relic of the Holy Blood

  • Procession of the Holy Blood

The Holy Blood caught by Nicodemus; or, The Luni-Sarzana Tradition

The Chapel of the Most Precious Blood (Cappella del preziosissimo sangue) in the Cathedral of Sarzana, Tuscany [Italy] has been housing since the 17th century a reliquary of the Holy Blood, formerly preserved in the Cathedral of Luni until 1204. The legend says that a ship without crew arrived miraculously at Luni on the Holy Friday of 782. On board was the relic of the Holy Blood caught by Nicodemus along with the Cross with the image of Jesus (Volto Santo) which he made to contain the relic. The Holy Blood remained at Luni, while the Cross was carried to Lucca.

  • See Piero Barbieri, La devozione al Prez.mo Sangue di N.S. Gesù Cristo nella Diocesi di Luni-Sarzana.

  • Cathedral of Sarzana, Liguria, Italy

  • Chapel of the Most Precious Blood

External links

  • [ Wikipedia]

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