Holy nail
The holy nails are one of the most important relics of Christ in the Catholic Church . Jesus Christ is said to have been nailed to the cross with these nails . The holy nails are directly related to the suffering and blood of Christ and for this reason enjoy a special veneration.
history
According to legend, Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross with the holy nails. After the descent from the cross, the nails are said to have been buried together with the cross. The discovery of the sacred nails has been handed down in the records of Bishop Gelasius of Caesarea and Rufinus of Aquileia . According to this, Helena , the mother of Constantine the Great , had people searched in the Holy Land for objects that were directly related to the suffering and death of Christ. Together with the Holy Cross , the nails are said to have been found in 325 and identified by a miracle of light in the presence of Helen and the historically undisclosed Bishop Judas Cyriacus of Jerusalem . Helena sent the nails along with part of the cross to her son Constantine the Great . He had one of the nails worked into his iron crown , the rest into the reins of his bridle. Later the holy nails were donated to other owners. A total of 29 to 34 sites claim the ownership of sacred nails. Some of these nails could come from the wooden structure of the cross itself, such as the footstool, the stake, or the titulus crucis INRI board . Another part of the sacred nails are believed to be touch relics, i.e. added nails that had touched one of the sacred nails of Christ. Among other things, Bishop Karl Borromeo of Milan had eight nails made according to the Milanese nail and distributed. Another reason for the large number of holy nails is that they may not have come from the cross of Christ, but from the suffering of other martyrs and that the nails were partially cut and even tiny filings of the holy nails were venerated and incorporated into relics or reliquaries. Another part of the sacred nails is of undetermined origin.
Whereabouts
Relics of the Holy Nails can be found in various places today.
Monza Cathedral
The Iron Crown , the royal crown of the Lombards in the Monza Cathedral Treasury, contains an iron ring which, according to legend, was forged from one of the nails from the cross of Christ.
Bamberg Cathedral
The Bamberg nail relic is kept in the so-called nail chapel in Bamberg Cathedral . It is not known how the nail came to Bamberg. The relic was first mentioned in an invoice in 1260 and has been documented in the Bamberg Cathedral Treasure ever since. The nail is about 11 cm long, the head and tip are broken off. In 1652, a peasant born blind is said to have seen the touch of the sacred nail.
Carpentras
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A nail from the reins of Constantine the Great is said to be in the cathedral treasury of the southern French city of Carpentras . These reins can be found on the city arms.
Colle di Val d'Elsa
Another nail is kept in the Romanesque church Pieve dei Santi Ippolito e Cassiano a Conèo, first mentioned in 972, in the Italian municipality of Colle di Val d'Elsa .
Milan Cathedral
Under the vault of the Milan Cathedral , a holy cross nail is kept in its own tabernacle , which is brought out once a year for worship.
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme Rome
In the Roman pilgrim church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme there is a holy nail next to small parts of the cross of Christ, the cross titulus and other Christ relics. The nail has a square, moderately thick shaft that tapers towards the tip. The tip is broken off and the nail is about 12 cm long, with a tip it would be about 16 cm. The head is strongly arched. This resembles the nail from the Trier Cathedral most closely.
Trier Cathedral
According to legend, Trier Cathedral has had a holy nail given by Empress Helena since the 4th century. Archbishop Egbert von Trier (977–993) had a splendid reliquary made by a goldsmith that took the nail precisely. The reliquary is decorated on all sides with precious stones and enamel plates . The outer shape of the reliquary reflects the shape of the nail and is therefore considered a speaking reliquary that provides information about its content to the observer who is not familiar with reading. The reliquary has a hinged lid that allows the relic to be touched or shown to the believers. The relic was kept in the Andreas portable altar , carried along in processions and shown during healing instructions . Blind people are said to have been healed several times by touching the relic. The relic of the Holy Nail was also used in taking oaths. The nail has a length of 17 cm, but the point that Pope Leo IX is missing is missing . asked in 1049 during a visit to Trier for its former episcopal church in Toul .
Treasury Vienna
According to the copy of a certificate, this nail should be used by King Conrad III. have been handed over to Pope Innocent II . The first reliable mention of the Viennese nail relic was made in a travel report by the Saxon ambassador Johann Sebastian Müller from 1260. For a long time it was believed that the nail worked into the Holy Lance from the regalia of the Holy Roman Empire came from the cross of Christ, but contains it the lance might just have a tiny particle from one of those nails. The relic is kept in the treasury in Vienna .
Authenticity of the sacred nails
The authenticity of the sacred nails is the subject of much debate. According to de Lorenzi, the sacred nails of Rome and Trier are most likely to be authentic. Against the authenticity of the holy nails, among other things, their uncertain history and the not completely verifiable path of the individual nails speaks. As a further counter-argument it can be cited that carpentry work in antiquity was mainly carried out with wooden bolts or dowels and iron was a relatively valuable raw material that was most likely reused after being used at the crucifixion and was not simply buried with the wooden cross.
literature
- Franz Xaver Kraus : The holy nail in the cathedral church in Trier , Linz, 1868; (Digital scan)
- de Lorenzi: nails that are holy . In: Joseph Hergenröther, Franz Kaulen, Heinrich Joseph Wetzer (eds.): Wetzer and Welte's Church Lexicon or Encyclopedia of Catholic Theology and its auxiliary sciences . 2nd Edition. tape 9 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1885, Sp. 7–11 ( kathenzyklo.bplaced.net or archive.org ).
- Michael Hesemann : The silent witnesses of Golgotha. The fascinating story of Christ's passion relics . Hugendubel, Munich et al. 2000, ISBN 3-7205-2139-7 (popular science presentation).
- Mechthild Schulze-Dörrlamm: Holy nails and holy lances. In: Falko Daim , Jörg Drauschke (Hrsg.): Byzanz - the Roman Empire in the Middle Ages. = Byzantium - the Roman Empire in the middle ages. = Byzance - l'Empire Romain au moyen age. Volume 1: World of Ideas, World of Things. = World of ideas, material world. = Monde des idées, monde des objets (= Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum zu Mainz, RGZM. Research Institute for Pre- and Early History. Monographs. 84, 1). Verlag des Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseums, Mainz 2010, ISBN 978-3-88467-153-5 , pp. 97–171.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d de Lorenzi: Nails, the holy ones . In: Joseph Hergenröther, Franz Kaulen, Heinrich Joseph Wetzer (eds.): Wetzer and Welte's Church Lexicon or Encyclopedia of Catholic Theology and its auxiliary sciences . 2nd Edition. tape 9 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1885, Sp. 7–11 ( kathenzyklo.bplaced.net or archive.org ).
- ↑ Wolfgang Schmied: Heiliger Nagel ( memento from December 17, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) in Trier Cathedral, on dominformation.de.
- ^ Pastor Bonus (magazine) , Paulinus-Druckerei, Trier, 1898, p. 555 of the year; (Detail scan)
Web links
- Nail chapel of Bamberg Cathedral
- The Holy Nail in Trier Cathedral ( Memento from September 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive )