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Where does the miraculous crucifix of Pope Francis come from during his world prayers?

2020-03-31T05:15:48.882Z


Last Friday, the sovereign pontiff was not completely alone in front of Saint Peter's Square in Rome emptied of his followers. In these weeks when the epidemic is raging, he had brought from a church in the historic center the "Santissimo Crocifisso". Back on the history of this three times sacred object.


On March 27, the astonishing image of a pope alone in prayer in St. Peter's Square in Rome immediately went around the world. Only? For this mass against the pandemic, François still had a large crucifix installed on his right. And not just any. He says of the "miraculous Christ". Usually, this polychrome wood is visible in his church in the Trevi district, therefore in the heart of the Eternal City.

This trip, as remarkable as it is, is not so exceptional. François reactivated an ancient ritual there, perfectly explained and detailed in an article by the late Jean Delumeau. The text of this great specialist in religious mentalities in the West, who died last January, appeared in the Mixtures of Archeology and History , (volume 63, 1951, available on www.persee.fr).

It all started on the night of May 22-23, 1519, when the Church of San Marcello was hit by a fire. The next day, the residents extinguish the flames which still attack, in the smoking rubble, the crucifix of the high altar. The object is straightened and, in the following days, the faithful of the neighborhood resume the habit of depositing in front of some candles. Soon the noise spreads: the sculpture has miraculously survived. Already sacred, she sees herself doubly loved.

Then comes the plague of 1522, one of the cruelest of the century, continues Jean Delumeau. The crucifix, sculpted by an anonymous hand in the 1370s according to art historian Claudia D'Alberto, is then adorned with an additional, thaumaturgical virtue. The Spanish cardinal Raimondo Vich, bishop of Valencia and Barcelona titular of the church San Marcello, authorizes that it is carried in expiatory procession.

And there he was wandered through Rome by a group of devotees soon to be organized as a brotherhood. Because each district claims this phoenix Christ and intends to keep it as long as possible, even at the price of fights. Eighteen days during, he precedes in the streets a crowd going "the head covered with ashes, barefoot and lashing himself with yards" .

When we finally bring him into St. Peter's Basilica, the holy of holies, the incessant cries of mercy seem to be heard. The epidemic is decreasing. Once it is extinguished, the piety of the Romans with regard to what is now called the "Santissimo Crocifisso" will no longer be contradicted.

Quickly, the brotherhood grew. Its statutes were approved by Clement VII in 1526 and were confirmed by Julius III in 1550. In 1564, it was elevated to the rank of archiconfraternity which gives it the right to join other brotherhoods in Italy as in the world. This Brotherhood of discipline, today called Arciconfraternita del SS. Crocifisso in Urbe, especially in Sicily or Corsica, and again from Toledo to Lima where, for all its flagellants, images or replicas of the crucifix are created.

In 1562, it undertook to acquire a spacious and richly decorated seat. The cornerstone of what will become the new San Marcello church is solemnly laid by Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese, a very powerful patron with his brother Alessandro (a plaque reminds him of this).

Inside the neighboring oratory, the same richness: several of the magnificent frescoes tell this whole story in particular: the crucifix surviving the fire (work by Cristoforo Roncalli), the procession of 1522 (Paris Nogari), or the approval of statutes of the archiconfraternity (Baldassarre Croce).

Kept under lock and key, the crucifix is ​​kept with the greatest vigilance by members of the brotherhood. It remains however still shown to important figures and officially releases four times a year. But the Romans refuse that it is lacking in the obviously frequent and enormously popular religious parades in their districts. It therefore finally leaves its case relatively often (refurbished in 1740).

Engravings attest, for example, to his presence on the Jubilee of 1675, during the pardon Day procession designed by Carlo Fontana, the architect of the beautiful Baroque facade adorning San Marcello. We can still see it in black and white photographs of the 1934 jubilee. More recently John Paul II knelt at Saint-Pierre in front of him during the festivals of the year 2000.

As for the Argentine pontiff, who also has the title of bishop of Rome, before asking his vicar Cardinal De Donatis, he went on foot to the oratory on March 15. And before him had already implored the healing of the many patients of Covid-19.

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Source: lefigaro

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