Christ relic

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Relics of Jesus Christ are referred to as the Christ relic or Lord's relic . These relics are highly venerated by many Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

The most important relic of Christ is the Holy Cross , on which Jesus Christ died. Many believers also consider the Turin shroud to be a relic of Christ, because, according to tradition, the body of Jesus was wrapped in this linen cloth and placed in the rock tomb. The Roman Catholic Church, however, calls the Turin shroud an icon .

Most of the relics of Christ are kept in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome . Replicas of Christ relics were brought into contact with the Roman relics and thus themselves became relics of contact; technically one speaks here of relics of the third class. First class relics are parts of the body e.g. B. bones.

The authenticity of the Christ relics is disputed. Many studies of the relics, which mostly only emerged in the Middle Ages, suggest that their origins were considerably later.

First class relics

The belief that there can be no first-class relics of Jesus Christ and Mary is based on the belief that both were bodily taken up into heaven. Relics of Christ are sometimes considered to be parts of the body that remained on earth before being taken into heaven . This includes:

  • the umbilical cord
  • hair
  • Milk teeth
  • the foreskin removed during circumcision
  • the blood shed at the passion

Second class relics

Reliquary with one of the holy nails in Bamberg Cathedral
Close up of the Scourge Column from the Santa Prassede Church in Rome

Second-class relics of Christ are, among other things, the instruments of suffering at the Passion of Christ , but also the footprints of Jesus in the churches of Santa Maria in Palmis (Domine, quo vadis?) And San Sebastiano on Via Appia Antica , the place where Jesus According to tradition, Peter met. Five boards made from the wood of a mulberry tree , which are venerated as relics of the crib of Jesus , are in the Confessio of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore . In a chapel near the Lateran Church, twenty-eight steps are shown, the Scala Santa , which Jesus is said to have climbed on the evening on which Pontius Pilate sentenced him to death.

Tools of suffering

  • the Holy Cross , which was found by Empress Helena through extensive excavations in a cistern a few meters from the Golgotha ​​hill.
  • the titulus , the inscription that was placed above the cross. There “Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews” can be read in Hebrew, Latin and Greek: INRI . This tablet was also found in the cistern together with the cross of Jesus. The discovery of the cross, the empty tomb and the place of execution Golgotha ​​with the holes in which the crosses were placed by Emperor Mother Helena gave rise to the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. About two thirds of the cross were brought to the palace chapel of St. Helena Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome and later to her son Constantine in Constantinople . A third of this cross relic probably remained in Jerusalem, where it was shown to the people every year at the solemn Exaltation of the Cross .
  • the Holy Nail was also given by St. Helena found together with the aforementioned items. Jesus is said to have been nailed to the cross with him. It is a Roman nail from the 1st century AD.
  • The Holy Lance : According to legend, it was with it that the Roman soldier Longinus opened Jesus' side. The lance was not only a relic, but also a leading symbol of rule and the first verifiable part of the imperial regalia .
  • the crown of thorns : The Christian-Greek scriptures report in Matthew 27:29, Mark 15:17 and John 19: 2 that Jesus was put on a crown of thorns by Roman soldiers. Together with a reed for a scepter and a red cloak, the soldiers mocked him with "royal" attributes while they mistreated him for being called the King of the Jews. --Matthew 27:11; Mark 15: 2; Luke 23: 3). Today, the relic of this crown is only a bare wreath, which is kept in the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral , because the thorns were distributed as individual relics over the centuries.
  • The chalice used at the Lord's Supper : According to legendary traditions, the mythological Holy Grail is the chalice that Christ used at the Last Supper with his disciples and in which Joseph of Arimathea is said to have caught the blood of Christ under the cross, as reported in apocryphal scriptures .
  • the veil of Veronica , according to tradition handed: Veronika her shawl Jesus on the way to Golgotha wipe to sweat and blood from his face. The face of Jesus is said to have been wonderfully impressed on the towel as a so-called Veronica image ( Vera icon ).
  • The holy sponge: The sponge , which, according to the Gospels, was dipped in vinegar and offered to Christ to quench his thirst, was divided into different pieces. A large piece is in France, smaller parts are kept in reliquaries in San Giovanni in Laterano , Santa Maria Maggiore and in the Aachen Cathedral Treasury .
  • The Scourge Column : Part of the stake to which Christ was chained when he was scourged is shown in the Church of Santa Prassede in Rome
  • the stone on which Judas Iscariot, according to tradition, betrayed the Lord
  • the palm trees , with their branches to Jesus at the entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday had honored

clothes

Other relics

  • a finger of the apostle Thomas , which he had placed in the wounds of the risen One
  • In the church of Santa Maria in Organo in Verona , a former religious church of the Olivetans , a wooden donkey ( muletta, cf. Palmesel ) has been shown since the 16th century at the latest , which is believed to contain the donkey's bones who carried Jesus when he entered Jerusalem . Although a date of origin around the middle of the 13th century is occasionally given, there is evidence of first mentions from 1607 in the chronicle of a monk who describes the annual palm procession with the reliquary as a “time-honored and pious custom”. After the blessing of the palm branches, the donkey, decorated with palm and olive branches, was carried in procession through the streets of the city to the ringing of bells. Since 1965 it has been shown all year round on a pedestal on the altar of the Benedict Chapel.

Footprint of Jesus or footprint of the Lord

Last footprint of Christ in the Ascension Chapel

The Ascension Chapel is located on the highest point of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, east of the Old City. It is located at the point from which - according to tradition - Jesus Christ ascended to heaven (Acts 1.9 EU). The crusaders built the - probably covered - ground floor of today's chapel around the year 1150 over the stone with the 'footprint of the Lord'. After Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem , the building was converted into a mosque in 1187 , which it officially is to this day (Ascension Mosque ).

Footprints of Jesus in the church of Santa Maria in Palmis (Domine, quo vadis?) On the Via Appia Antica

In the interior of the church of Santa Maria in Palmis , near the main portal, there is a copy of a stone (original in San Sebastiano, all Catacombe) with footprints that, according to legend, come from Jesus Christ.

Reliquary in the Church of St. Virgin Mary of Sacha

In the southeast corner of the Church of St. Virgin Mary of Sacha is the "Bicha Isous", the footprint of Jesus.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joan Carroll Cruz: Saintly Men of Modern Times. Our Sunday Visitor, 2003, ISBN 1-931709-77-7 , p. 200.
  2. ↑ Vera Ostioa: A Palm donkey at the cloisters. P. 4. In: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. P. 173.
  3. ^ Max Harris: Wooden Christs on Wooden Donkeys (Frequently on Wheels): A Short History of the Palmesel in Germany, Italy, and Bolivia. P. 11.