The procession of the purported skull of St. Thomas Aquinas in Priverno, Italy, March 7. | Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Posted on 03/12/2024 7:07:30 PM PDT by DoodleBob
On the eve of the 750th anniversary of St. Thomas Aquinas’ death, a skull revered as a relic of St. Thomas Aquinas was carried in a solemn procession through the cobblestone streets of the southern Italian town of Priverno.
Bishop Mariano Crociata led the procession to honor the medieval philosopher and theologian widely considered one of the greatest thinkers in Western civilization, who died in the nearby Fossanova Abbey on March 7, 1274.
The relic has been venerated in the town’s 12th-century cathedral since it was found in the altar of nearby Fossanova Abbey in 1585 with notarized documents indicating that it was the skull of the “Angelic Doctor.”
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Three months before he died, Aquinas experienced an intense revelation while offering Mass when he was nearly finished with his most significant work, the Summa Theologiae or “Summary of Theology.” After experiencing this revelation, Aquinas told his friend and secretary, Brother Reginald of Priverno: “The end of my labors has come. All that I have written appears to be as so much straw after the things that have been revealed to me,” and he never wrote again.
Aquinas’ body was kept in Fossanova Abbey until 1369, when his relics were moved to Toulouse, France, where the Order of Preachers was founded and where Aquinas’ tomb can be venerated today in the Church of the Jacobins.
The skull in Priverno is one of two skulls currently claimed by Church officials as the skull of St. Thomas Aquinas.
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
LOL
Does this mean they can use the carpool lane?
Oh yea…
You may think you’re cool, but you’ll never be “The skull of St Thomas Aquinas rode shotgun with me to Fossanova Abbey” cool.
LOL. HOV lane with St. Thomas Aquinas. You’re bad.
It’s like Buddhists venerating and parading Buddha’s tooth.
Now, the way you put that, it just made me grin!
It's more than a little grotesque. They should be resting in peace in their proper place, not paraded about.
I'm not anti-Catholic but this kind of thing really mystifies me.
You just aren’t cool enough to understand🙁
A relic brings far more good luck than a rabbit’s foot or horseshoe.
And The Virgin Mary’s breast milk, well that’s another level....
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2019/07/the-milk-of-virgin-mary-in.html
Italy is known for football so maybe to promote St. Thomas Aquinas they can kick a replica of his skull around?.....
I’m going to curse anyone who digs me up and parades me around.
Does this mean they can use the carpool lane?
****
For me, you win the Internet for today- I’m cracking up 😂
13th-century saints' relics might have a good chance of being genuine. Earlier ones, who knows? Are the bones of St. Nicholas in Bari really his? Is the skull of St. Titus in a church in Herakleion, Greece, really his?
It IS a little bizarre, I’ll grant you, growing up Catholic, I never saw relics like that, our parish wasn’t that influential. However in 2000, we were blessed with a relic of St. Anthony, a small piece of bone in a reliquary. It was making the rounds of Catholic Churches in the U.S.
I believe this is called a “First class” relic. Part of the body of a saint, or something in close contact with the body of a saint.
Going through my mother’s things after she and Dad were gone, I found among her jewelry what appeared to be a brooch, with something encased inside, visible in a small window at the front of the brooch. There are inscriptions on the front and back- I had to use a magnifying glass to read them. It encloses a small piece of cloth, and the inscription says that it is from an article of clothing once worn by Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini, a Catholic saint.
This is a “third class relic”, according to the Catholic Church.
I don’t where or when Mom acquired it, I never knew she had it.
Amazing find.
I agree ... but that’s not likely to happen ... unless ... well, I don’t know ... Cheers!
I remember reading of a man considered a “Living Saint” back in those times. When he died his body was boiled by the monks to remove the flesh and his bones sold as sacred relics.
Was this him?
***two skulls of Thomas Aquinas***
Often used as “proof” of a person being a saint. They could appear in two places at the same time!
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