Pope Leo venerates the pectoral cross reliquary
Pope Leo XIV's pectoral cross contains a relic of St. Leo
the Great
On the day of his election, Pope Leo XIV received the gift
of a silver pectoral cross containing the relics of Pope St. Leo the Great, as
well as three Augustinian bishops: St. Augustine, St. Thomas of Villanova, and
Blessed Anselmo Polanco, a Spanish bishop martyred in the country’s civil war.
By Tiziana Campisi and Christopher Wells
Almost 16 centuries ago, the first Pope to bear the name Leo
promoted the unity of the Church, highlighted the primacy of the Bishop of
Rome, defined the doctrine of the Incarnation, composed some of the most
beautiful prayers of the Roman Missal, and earned for himself the epithet “the
Great.”
On May 8, the day of his election to the papacy, the new
Pope Leo XIV received a silver pectoral cross donated by the Circolo
San Pietro, containing relics of his illustrious predecessor, along with
relics of St. Augustine of Hippo and Augustinian bishops St. Thomas of
Villanova and Blessed Anselmo Polanco.
The Circolo San Pietro was founded in Rome
in 1869 by a group of young people at the urging of Blessed Pope Pius IX, who
entrusted them with their initial charitable duty of providing meals for the
poor.
Pectoral cross with
relics of Pope St Leo the Great, St Augustine of Hippo, St Thomas of Villanova,
and Bd Anselmo Polanco
The idea of the Custode of
the Apostolic Sanctuary
The idea of having a new “reliquary” cross made for Pope Leo
XIV was the inspiration of Father Bruno Silvestrini, OSA, Custode del
Sacrario Apostolico (Guardian of the Apostolic Sanctuary), and a
member of the Augustinian community attached to the Pontifical Sacristy.
Picking up on his Augustinian confrere’s desire to entrust
himself to the protection and guidance of Pope Leo the Great, Fr. Silvestrini
turned to expert Antonino Cottone, who had already made five reliquaries using
traditional medieval techniques.
Mr. Cottone created the pectoral cross reliquary, which was
donated to Pope Leo by the Augustinian General Curia on the day he was created
Cardinal, on 30 September 2023.
Antonino Cottone at
work on the reliquary
A painstaking task
It took the expert only two hours to create, with
painstaking precision and passionate dedication, a new small cross with gilded
paper filigrees (paperoles) on red moiré (“watered silk”, a textile
whose appearance simulates the grain of wood or marble, producing an iridescent
effect), where 4 tiny paper flowers held the relics of the 4 illustrious
pastors of the Church.
Mr. Cottone skillfully rolled, shaped, and glued tiny strips
of paper to create a series of decorative elements between which he then
inserted the precious fragments of the “holy bones.”
Cottone prepares the
relics for insertion in the pectoral cross
Cross presented to Leo XIV
When he had finished his work, the artisan placed the
“reliquary cross” inside the papal pectoral cross and presented it to Pope Leo
XIV by placing it around his neck.
The Pope joyfully received the pectoral cross enriched with
the relics of four bishops particularly dear to him.
Presenting the
reliquary cross to Pope Leo XIV
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