Castel Sant'Angelo exhibit
on the Popes from 1300-2000
is dedicated to Benedict XVI
on the 50th anniversary of Vatican-II
It includes the Velletri Cross associated with Cardinal Ratzinger
by Silvia Guidi
Translated from the 7/2-7/3 issue of
Reality always surpasses reality when it has to do with art masterpieces. Leafing through the «Banca dati delle opere illecitamente sottratte» (Data bank of stolen works) of the Italian Forze d'Ordine, one could well come across the farcical account of their recovery of a Guercino masterpiece - the painting of Santa Margherita di Antiochia, which was stolen in 1976 from the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. It found under the decorative woodwork of a reputable diagnostic medicine clinic in Bologna.
Or follow the vicissitudes of the famous Crux Veliterna (the Cross of Velletri) - which had been a gift from Frederick II of Sweden to Pope Alexander IV - and in the late 19th century would be associated with then Cardinal Ratzinger.
Reality always surpasses imagination, too, when one looks at the millennia of Roman history, inextricably linked to Christianity and to the Successors of Peter. In the exhbibit, "I Papi della Memoria' inaugurated on June 27 at the Castel Sant'Angelo (which is an Italian National Museum), seven centuries of papal history are shown, starting with the first Holy Year declared in 1300 to the Grand Jubilee Year of 2000.
Until December 8, museumgoers can admire paintings, sculptures, sacred objects, masterpieces of goldsmithery through those centuries which have been loaned by other major national museums, along with artworks recovered by Italian state police (Carabinieri), Finance Guards and local police forces as mentioned earlier.
The Velletri Cross was featured in the poster for the Pope's pastoral visit to Velletri in 2007; a photo for the Museum catalog shows its natural colors best.
The case of Crux Veliterna is emblematic: Stolen from the Velletri diocesan museum in 1983, the 11th-century Cross reliquary was recovered by Italian police in 1996 and returned to the city when Cardinal Ratzinger was the titular bishop of the suburbicarian See of Velletri-Segni.
Among the masterworks on display are a Face of Christ attributed to Fra Angelico, the portrait of Clement VII by Sebastiano del Piombo (found on the cover of the exhibit catalog), the portrait of Sixtus VI by Titian, a reliquary chalice by Benvenuto Cellini, and Donatello's famous reliquary bust of San Rossore, which was recovered by the Finance Guard in the 1970s.
I cannot resist posting this photo from my posts on Benedict XVI's visit to Velletri in 2007 because it's timely in a way.
It shows Cardinal Ratzinger when, in 2001, he marked the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a priest in Velletri -
which in turn marked the anniversary concretely by inlaying his cardinal's coat of arms on the cathedral floor. In 2007,
Benedict XVI made the decision to situate in Velletri a bronze column depicting his mission as Pope and various symbols
associated with his life as a man of God. The column was a gift to him on his 80th birthday by 100 towns and cities of
Bavaria. It is a 'twin' of the first Benedict column erected in front of his birthplace in Marktl and inaugurated by him
when he visited Bavaria in September 2006.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 03/07/2012 10:26]