The Church of Ss Peter and Paul in Biasca, Switzerland (Part 1)

Our Ambrosian expert Nicola de’ Grandi recently visited the town of Biasca, about 79 miles to the north of Milan in the Swiss canton of Ticino. There are three valleys in the area known as the Ambrosian valleys, which were under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the archbishop of Milan since at least the sixth century, and consequently celebrated the Ambrosian Rite. Many churches in the area still use the rite to this day, even though they are now part of the diocese of Lugano, which was founded in 1888, and is coterminous with the canton. Biasca was the seat of the principal parish and mother church of the region, originally dedicated to just St Peter, later also to St Paul. The current building is the second church to be built on the site, the result of a reconstruction project begun in the second half of the 12th century.

Modern restorations have removed most of the additions made to the building in later periods, especially the Baroque, and revealed a great amount of fresco work is preserved in fairly good condition, and a very nice wooden ceiling with decorations of the Gothic period. This post of Nicola’s photos will focus on the frescos; a second post will show the Romanesque exterior. 

The apse is dominated by a fresco of Christ in majesty with the four Evangelists, each accompanied by his traditional symbol. The images of the two bishops on the sides have been deliberately damaged with an awl to make the surface rougher; a second layer of fresco which was placed on top of them has subsequently been removed.  

To the right of this window is the meeting of St Peter with Christ as he flees from Rome, part of a traditional legend about the Apostle’s career in Rome and eventual martyrdom.

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The Sainte-Chapelle of Vincennes

The term “Sainte-Chapelle”, French for “holy chapel”, is most often used to refer to one of the most famous Gothic churches in the world, the chapel on the Île de la Cité in Paris which St Louis IX built to house the Lord’s Crown of Thorns. But there are nine other chapels of royal or noble foundation which are also so called, and there were four others which no longer exist. Of these, the best known is the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes, the chapel of a castle complex called the Château de Vincennes on the outskirts of Paris, which was often used as the royal residence from the time it was built the 1360s, until it was effectively replaced by Versailles in the late 17th century. 

Construction of the chapel was begun in 1379, ten years after the castle was finished, but not completed until 1552. With the permanent move to Versailles under Louis XIV in 1682, it lost its importance; the castle itself ceased to be an official royal residence in 1754, and the collegiate chapter that officiated in the chapel was suppressed in 1787. The chapel was badly damaged during the Revolution, later to be restored by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (better known for his important work on Notre-Dame de Paris), but many of its decorations, including the spire, the tympanum, almost all the exterior sculptures, many of the stained glass windows, and all of the original furnishings (e.g. the choir stalls) were irreparably lost. Despite this, it remains an impressive example of the style of later phase of Gothic architecture known as the flamboyant. These pictures were taken by Nicola during a recent visit.

The small tower-like structure on the left of the church is the sacristy; the upper story was a treasury to house other relics of the Lord’s Passion. (I have been unable to find a source which says which ones exactly.) 

An especially good shot from a window within the castle.

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Ambrosian Chants for Mass and Vespers of Pentecost

The following recordings were made yesterday, the feast of Pentecost, by Nicola de’ Grandi at the church of Santa Maria della Consolazione, where the traditional Ambrosian Mass is celebrated every Sunday. The first two are of the Mass, and the remaining five of Vespers. Thanks once again to Nicola for sharing these with us. The Latin texts are given in the videos themselves; the English translations are my own.

First we have the Offertory of the Mass. Especially on solemn feasts, these tend to be much longer than their Roman counterparts, and have retained the partial repetitions which have long been purely optional in the Roman Rite. The first part of the text is taken from Leviticus 23, which is read in the Roman Rite at the Mass of the following Ember Saturday. “This day shall be for you as a memorial, hallelujah; and you will celebrate a solemn feast day unto the Lord, unto your generations, the day as an everlasting law, hallelujah, hallelujah. V. (Ex. 14) Moses said to the people, ‘Be ye of good spirit; salvation shall come to you from the Lord, and he will fight for you’ unto your generations, the day as an everlasting law, hallelujah, hallelujah.”

In the Ambrosian Rite, the chant sing during the distribution of communion is called the Transitorium. This particular text is extremely ancient, and is also used on Easter Thursday; the “clean lambs” to which it refers are therefore the newly baptized, since Milan shares the common tradition that Pentecost is the second major baptismal feast after Easter. “Sing a hymn, pure lambs, reborn in the washing of the font, satisfied with the body of Christ, hallelujah, hallelujah.”

Ambrosian Vespers has many texts in common with the Roman Rite, but the arrangement differs in many details. The general order is as follows: the lucernarium, a hymn originally sung while the lamps of the church were bring lit; an antiphon (by itself, and without repetition) called “in choro – in the choir”, since in the cathedral, it was sung by the cantors standing around the throne of the archbishop; the hymn; and then a responsory also called “in choro.” The Ambrosian Office puts the Veni, Creator Spiritus at Lauds, and at Vespers, sings the hymn Jam Christus astra ascenderat, which the Roman Office has at Matins. After this the psalmody begins.

An old photo of the choir of the Duomo of Milan, taken while the antiphon in choro was being sung on Epiphany; colorized by Nicola to very nice effect.

As in the Roman Rite, the psalms of Pentecost Vespers are the same as those of an ordinary Sunday, 109-113, but the first two are sung with the same antiphons as on the Sundays of Eastertide, consisting of four Hallelujahs (spelled thus, but the H is not pronounced) with psalm 109, and two with 110. The remaining three psalms are said with antiphons very similar to the first, third and fifth of the Roman antiphons. At Psalm 112, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in various tongues, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.”

With Psalm 113, the antiphon is “In various tongues the Apostles spoke of the mighty deeds of God, hallelujah, hallelujah.”

Following the psalmody, an oration is said, then the Magnificat with its antiphon. The antiphon with which is it said on Pentecost has no parallel in the Roman Office, but many other Uses have one similar to it which was said on one of the two days after the octave of the Ascension. “The Holy Spirit will teach you, hallelujah, what you must say, hallelujah.”

The Magnificat is followed by another oration, and then two chants called psallendae, which were originally supposed to accompany some kind of procession, and in some cases still do. These are each sung with the doxology, and repeated, then followed by two versicles called completoria, and another oration. Psall. I “My peace I give you, hallelujah, my peace I leave you, hallelujah.”

Complet. I “Thy kingdom, o Lord, hallelujah, and Thy dominion in every generation and descent, hallelujah, hallelujah.”

Complet. II “Blessed art Thou, o Lord, God of our fathers, and praiseworthy and glorious unto the ages, hallelujah.”

Psall. II “Jesus commanded them saying, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but await the promise of the father, hallelujah.”

Complet. I “For thou lightest my lamp, o Lord: o my God enlighten my darkness.”

Complet. II “Blessed art Thou, o Lord, God of our fathers, and praiseworthy and glorious unto the ages, hallelujah.” (This is the same text as the second completorium above, but sung with a shorter melody.)

The Minor Litanies in the Ambrosian Rite

This post comes entirely from notes written by our Ambrosian expert, Nicola de’ Grandi. The photos were taken yesterday at the church of Santa Maria della Consolazione in Milan, where the traditional rite is celebrated, and which observed the Minor Litanies with a procession and a station within the church. (In previous years it has been held outside, but yesterday it was raining.) Last month, I posted the liturgical texts of the Ambrosian form of the Major Litanies. Special thanks to Mr Andrea Riva for providing the video of the Litany of the Saints given below. 

In the Ambrosian Rite, the Minor Litanies are celebrated on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after the Ascension, not before as in the Roman Rite. This custom is attested in the very oldest Ambrosian liturgical books, and was observed from very ancient times throughout the north of Italy, not just at Milan, as seen in a liturgical manuscript at Friuli, in the Veneto region, already in the 6th century. They were originally known as the “Major Litanies”, since they were instituted before the observance on April 25th that now bears that name, but which is not attested in the Ambrosian Rite before the 11th century.

An Ambrosian liturgical manuscript of the 13th century.

Although St Ambrose himself writes that it was not the custom of the Church to fast during the Easter season (Exposition of the Gospel of St Luke 25), a fact which was adduced in criticism of the Milanese custom in the Middle Ages, it was defended in the later 11th century by a cleric of the city named Landolfo, who refers to what Christ says when asked why His disciples did not fast. “The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast.” (Matthew 9, 15) The three day fast after the Ascension, the departure of the Bridegroom, therefore imitates what the Apostles did while waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. A contemporary of St Ambrose, St Philastrius of Brescia, attests to exactly this same custom, and for exactly the same reasons, already in the mid-5th century. The Mozarabic liturgy also traditionally observes a fast of three days in the week after the Ascension, on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before the vigil of Pentecost.

From the most ancient times, the Church administered baptism on Pentecost with the same rites as on Easter; this is attested in a letter of Pope St Siricius (384-99) to Himerius, bishop of Tarragon in Spain (cap. 2), and one of Pope St Leo the Great (440-461), in which he exhorts the bishops of Sicily to follow the Church’s custom and the example of the Apostle Peter, who baptized three thousand persons on Pentecost day. (Epist. 16)

In accordance with this universal custom, the traditional Ambrosian celebration of the Minor Litanies, as they are now called, has many elements in common with Lent, the season par excellence for baptismal preparation. During the processions, there are stations at various churches; at each station, lessons are read as part of the catechumenal preparation for baptism, exactly as was done in Lent. Black vestments are used as on the ferias of Lent, and in the Office, all of the characteristic features of the Easter season (the Paschal hymns, antiphons consisting of just the word “Alleluia”, etc.) are replaced with those of the season per annum. The Ambrosian Rite has no Ash Wednesday, and only much later did it adopt the imposition of ashes on the first Monday of Lent; the blessing and imposition of ashes is in fact historically done on the first day of the Minor Litanies.

In the Middle Ages, when the Minor Litanies were still kept with great solemnity, on each of the three days, the archbishop, the cathedral chapter and the entire clergy of the city participated in a procession which departed from the cathedral, and stopped at twelve different stational churches along the way, each group within the clergy walking behind its own processional cross. An enormous number of processional antiphons were sung, interspersed between the verses of the longest Psalm in the Psalter, Beati immaculati (118). At each station, a synaxis was held in a form which is common to various penitential functions in the Ambrosian Rite such as vigils and the ferias of Lent: twelve Kyrie eleisons, followed by a prayer, a reading of the Old Testament, a responsory, and a Gospel. In 1767, the diary of the master of ceremonies of the Duomo records that the full ceremony lasted for just under 5 hours!

The procession

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The Life of St Stanislaus Depicted on a Chasuble

On the general calendar of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St Stanislaus (1030-79), a priest of Krakow who was well-known as an excellent preacher, and elected bishop of that see in 1072. The king of Poland at the time, Bolesław II, was a talented and capable man, but indulged in many evil deeds; he kidnapped a noblewoman after whom he lusted, and stole property from the Church. For this, Stanislaus excommunicated him, forbidding services to be celebrated in the Wawel Cathedral whenever he was present, in return for which, the king murdered him while he was in the midst of celebrating Mass. He has often been compared to St Thomas Becket, who likewise resisted the importunities of the sovereign against the Church.

St Stanislaus depicted in a manuscript of the Lives of the Bishops of Kraków by Jan Długosz, the principal source for his life, made in the 1530s for Bp Piotr Tomicki, who is depicted venerating him in the company of King Sigismund I and other dignitaries of the church and state. The tiny figure at his feet is the man whom he raised from the dead, as explained below. The inscription in the red plaque on the left reads, “Vir inclite Stanislae vita, signis, passione, gregem tuam, pastor bone, fove benedictione, guberna protectione, sana salva sancta intercessione. – O Stanislaus, renowned for your life, miracles and passion! O good shepherd, support your flock with your blessing, govern it with your protection, heal and save it through your holy intercession!” This is the antiphon at the Magnificat for Second Vespers of his proper Office used in Poland. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.) 

It has to be noted that many details of the lives of both men are regarded as historically very uncertain, not least the day of the Stanislaus’ death. The Roman Martyrology places it on May 8th, which is still to this day his feast day in Poland, but he was assigned to today on the general calendar because the 8th was already taken by the Apparition of St Michael. Other sources place it on April 11th, the date to which he has been moved in the post-Conciliar Rite. In his memoire (p. 318 of the English edition), Abp Bugnini notes that in response to the proposed degradation of all the Polish Saints on the general calendar to optional memorials, the bishops of Poland requested that at least one remain obligatory, so that “at least once a year the entire Church might recall how much Poland has suffered for its fidelity to the gospel.” Stanislaus was chosen, but, adding injury to insult, his new date means that his feast will be omitted or reduced to a commemoration in 2 years out of 3.

The treasury of the Wawel cathedral preserves an extraordinary chasuble, made in 1503 for the 250th anniversary of Stanislaus’ canonization, a donation of the governor of Krakow, Piotr Kmita. The main events of the Saint’s life are depicted in very high relief and incredibly complex embroidered panels, mounted on wooden boards, and detailed with pearls, and tiny accessories (like the chalice in one of the scenes) made by goldsmiths. Our thanks to the administrators of the cathedral’s Facebook page for their kind permission to reproduce these detailed photographs of it. Below, we have some photos by our own Nicola de’ Grandi of some other things pertinent to the Saint.

Starting from the bottom, Piotr Kmita is depicted holding his coat of arms.

In the second panel, St Stanislaus buys a village from a knight named Piotr, who dies soon thereafter.

Stanislaus, having been accused of fraud in the transaction, which the king used to justify his theft of the village, raises Piotr from the dead to bear witness to the legitimacy of the sale; in the following panel, the Saint brings him before the king. (Note the incredibly realistic representation of the dead man in both panels.)

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Relics of St Peter Martyr in Milan

St Peter Martyr was killed on April 6, 1252, but since that day so often occurs in Holy Week or Easter week, when he was canonized less than a year after his death, his feast was assigned to April 29. As we have noted several times in the past (see here and here), his relics are in the Portinari chapel within the basilica of St Eustorgius in Milan. Here is a picture the large reliquary containing his skull, taken in the basilica on Sunday by Nicola de’ Grandi.

In the background of this picture, we see the Saint’s monumental tomb of the type known as an ‘arca’ in Italian, which is deliberately designed so that the faithful can walk under it and touch the sarcophagus containing the relics. (The video below it was made a few years ago.)

An inscription which commemorates the dedication of a new altar for the chapel on the day before his feast in 1737.

The Feast of St Longinus

On March 15th, the Roman Martyrology commemorates St Longinus, who is traditionally said to be the soldier who pierced the Lord’s side with a lance on the Cross (John 19, 34), as well as the centurion who said “Truly, this man was the Son of God.” (Matthew 27, 54) His legend states that he suffered from a malady of the eyes, which was healed when the some of the blood that came forth from the Savior’s side touched him. The apocryphal “Letters between Pilate and Herod” also claim that he was one of the guards at Christ’s tomb, and not only witnessed the Resurrection, but spoke with the Lord Himself shortly afterwards. After preaching the Gospel and living a monastic life near Caesarea of Cappadocia (later the see of St Basil the Great), he was martyred by beheading.

An illustration from a Syriac Gospel book now kept at the Laurentian Library in Florence, known from the name of the scribe as the Rabula Gospels, dated 586 A.D. The name “Longinos” is written in Greek over the soldier on the left with the lance, but this may be an addition by a later hand. 

There are a great many variants to the story, which cannot be regarded as a reliable hagiography. The city of Lanciano in the Italian region of the Abruzzi claims him as a native son, and that his martyrdom took place there instead. The city of Mantua in Lombardy, birthplace of the poet Virgil, claims that he preached in that region, and was martyred there, and furthermore, that he brought to that city relics of the Lord’s Precious Blood, and the sponge which was used to give Him vinegar during the Passion. These are now kept in the crypt of the basilica of St Andrew, which was begun by the famous Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti in 1472, but only completed in 1732. Here are some photos of the church from Nicola de’ Grandi.

The chapel of St Longinus. The tomb on the left contains his relics, that on the right, some of the relics of St Gregory Nazianzen, given to Mantua by Matilda of Canossa. (Detailed photos below)

The story is told that the relics of Christ’s Blood brought to Mantua by St Longinus were hidden for safekeeping by Longinus himself, and discovered in 804 when St Andrew the Apostle appeared to someone to reveal their location. (Similar stories are told about many of the famous and more improbable relics of the Middle Ages.) The rediscovery of the relics is here depicted by Giulio Romano, a disciple of Raphael who did an enormous amount of work in Mantua under the Gonzaga dukes; the Crucifixion scene below is also his.

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The Feast of St Fina of San Gimignano

The photographs in this post were all taken by Nicola de’ Grandi.

The Tuscan town of San Gimignano is named for St Geminianus, a bishop of Modena in the Italian region of the Emilia-Romagna, who died in 397. But it also has another patron Saint, one its own citizens, a girl named Fina (short for Serafina). Although her noble family had fallen into poverty, from a very young age, she would give half of her own food to those even less fortunate than herself, until she was struck by a disease of some sort that left her almost totally paralyzed. At the same time, her father died, leaving her and her mother in even more dire straights; her mother often had to leave her alone to look for work or beg. In the midst of severe suffering, Fina was never heard to complain, but prayed with her eyes always on a crucifix, “It is not my wounds but Thine, o Christ, that hurt me.” Finally, her mother died and she was left completely destitute, cared for only by two friends named Beldia and Bonaventura. Since she had heard that Pope St Gregory the Great also suffered terribly from various diseases, Fina would often pray to him that he would help her bear her sufferings. Eight days before her death, St Gregory appeared to her and told her that God would give her rest on his feast day, the day on which she died at the age of only 15, in the year 1253.

In 1468, the architects Benedetto and Giuliano da Maiano were brought to the Collegiate Church of the Assumption in San Gimignano to build a chapel dedicated to St Fina. Seven years later, Benedetto completed the altar which houses her relics, while the most successful artist in Florence at the time, Domenico Ghirlandaio (the future painting teacher of Michelangelo) was hired to fresco the walls and ceilings, which include two scenes from her life. The relics now repose underneath the altar...

but were formerly in this urn mounted on the wall above it. The poetic Latin inscription says, “The bones of a virgin lie hidden in the tomb which you see, friend; she is glory, model and defense for her own (i.e., for her fellow-citizens). Her name was Fina, this was her native place. Do you seek miracles? Read what the walls (i.e. the paintings on them) and the living signs have to teach.” (There is a spelling error in the 3rd line of the inscription, EVIT instead of FVIT.)

St Fina is not incorruptible (quite the contrary); her bones are now covered over with a wax effigy and a structure that supports the clothing. This new urn is designed so that her body can be carried in procession on her feast day.

During the years of her paralysis, Fina would often have to lie for long periods on this plank, to which (there is no polite way to explain this) she eventually became at least partly attached. Within the last couple of years, it has been placed in this new modern case with a sealed nitrogen atmosphere to preserve it, and is now displayed within the chapel.

On the right wall of the chapel, Ghirlandaio painted this image of the appearance of St Gregory to St Fina shortly before her death. (Renaissance artists in general, and particularly the Florentines, do not dwell on things that are ugly and distressing, and the artist does not show us Fina’s horrifying condition at the time of her death.)

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Medieval Art and Liturgical Objects at the Musée de Cluny in Paris (Part 5): Ivories

This is the fifth post in our series of Nicola’s photographs of an exhibition recently held at the Musée de Cluny in Paris, titled “The Middle Ages of the 19th Century - Creations and Fakes in the Fine Arts”. In this post we focus on various kinds of objects made of ivory. In ancient times, ivory was often used to make the diptychs from which were read the names of persons to be commemorated at the liturgy, a custom which continued into the early Middle Ages, and a good number of well-preserved high quality examples of these survive.   

A plaque if the Crucifixion, with allegorical figures of the Sun and the Moon above the Cross, the Church and the Synagogue to either side, (with the Virgin Mary and St John behind them), and the Ocean and the Earth beneath it. Made in Metz, France, ca. 860-70 to decorate the cover of a manuscript.

A copy made in the 19th century.

A triptych of the Adoration of the Magi, with scenes of the Baptism of Christ on the right panel, and the Beheading of the Baptist on the left, with portraits of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabelle of Castille, made by a Catalan art restorer and forger named Francisco Pallás y Puig in the late 19th or early 20th century.

Another Adoration of the Magi, made in Paris ca. 1325-50...

and a 19th century imitation.

Another piece of the 19th century, with a scene of the Annunciation.

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Medieval Art and Liturgical Objects at the Musée de Cluny in Paris (Part 4)

This is the fourth post in our series of Nicola’s photographs of an exhibition recently held at the Musée de Cluny in Paris, titled “The Middle Ages of the 19th Century - Creations and Fakes in the Fine Arts”. In this post we focus on liturgical objects of various kinds, both original medievals works and modern ones inspired by them.

This object made of gilded silver, decorated with pearls and enamels, which depicts St George killing a dragon, was left to the Louvre by the previous owner in 1901 and catalogued as a kind of pax brede, attributed to a German artist named Hans Fuog, and dated to the year 1453, according to an inscription on the back. In reality, it is composite, partly made in the 15th century, partly from various piece (the base, the feet and the upper section) created in the 19th.

A portable altar, also a composite work, with several ivory plaques depicting the Twelve Apostles, and dated to the 10th to 12th centuries, mounted in a 19th century frame made of oak, gilded copper, ivory, enamel and porphyry.

Two French pax bredes made from the same model in the 15th or 16th century.

An incense boat made in the first half of the 19th century in Paris (below), and the model which inspired it, made in Siena ca. 1350-75.

A pair of liturgical gloves made in France in the 19th century, inspired by various kinds of medieval models.

An abbatial crook made in Italy towards the end of the 18th century or beginning of the 19th, with a lion made of boxwood on top, and a scene depicting an ordination on the ivory piece below it.

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Medieval Art and Liturgical Objects at the Musée de Cluny in Paris (Part 3): Reliquaries

For this third set of Nicola photographs of an exhibition recently held at the Musée de Cluny in Paris, titled “The Middle Ages of the 19th Century - Creations and Fakes in the Fine Arts”, the focus is on medieval reliquaries, and modern ones inspired by them. The first piece, which is the result of work done in four different periods, exemplifies how the influence of medieval art endured in later times. 

A reliquary cross made at the end of the 12th century (1180-1200), mounted on a base made in the 14th, with a corpus of the 16th, assembled into its current form in the 19th. 

A reliquary plaque made in the German city of Hildesheim, copper in champlevé and enamel, 1160-70.

A reliquary of the column of the Flagellation, made in Venice in the mid 15th-century.

A reliquary statue of St Anne, made in Germany in 1472. Anne is shown holding a small coffer, smell figures of Jesus and Mary to either side. This motif, known as a “selbdritte – she herself (i.e. Anne) is the third” was very popular in late medieval Germany.

Two reliquaries of a rather unusual design, with a small tower resting on top of a box, were both made in the area of Basel, Switzerland, in the later 15th or early 16th century, and later partly reworked.

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